The Pittsburgh Penguins took care of an important bit of free agent business on Tuesday, and their decision has massive implications on the New York Rangers' summer plans. Evgeni Malkin, despite turning 40 in July, was set to be one of the more interesting free agent centers. His exit from the market is something that could be a positive and a negative for the Rangers, and now's a great time to dive in.
Positive spin of Malkin staying in Pittsburgh
The Rangers hope to sell high on Vincent Trocheck, something they were unable to do during the most recent trade deadline. Chris Drury had a price in mind, no team was willing to meet it, so he kept Trocheck with the knowledge he could try again this summer. Today's price is different than the price of a few week's ago, and the thought at the time is that would represent a decline in value.
But the free agent market remains pretty week, and now Malkin joins Charlie Coyle as players who decided to re-sign with their own team instead of testing unrestricted free agency. With both players signing pretty similar reasonable deals, that should make Trocheck's $5.625 million cap hit for three years remaining pretty decent. Trocheck finished with 53 points in 67 games, and the two leading UFA centers at this point are 38-year-old Claude Giroux (49 points in 82 games) and 35-year-old Marcus Johansson (49 points in 75 games).
Negative spin of Malkin staying in Pittsburgh
The two possible negatives of the news include Pittsburgh now being eliminated as a potential landing spot for Trocheck, and the Rangers having one fewer option to consider for replacing Trocheck. Trocheck is a Pittsburgh native, and the Penguins would have been an ideal fit for him. The Penguins could have offered a decent return, but signing Malkin should close the door on that.
While the Rangers need to be thinking about the future, there's a world where Malkin would have made sense as a high ceiling placeholder for a team that needs to push for the playoffs. His best days are behind him, but he remains a future Hall of Famer who was still pretty productive this past season.
The Rangers will now have to get a little more creative when it comes to replacing Trocheck, but it may very well end up being something they look to take care of internally. In any case, the latest news changes how the team will proceed, but the good news is that there's still a whole lot of offseason yet to unfold.
Add us as a preferred source on Google