Carter’s Deal Good for the Rangers and Biron on tap.

The already cap-tight Flyers today announced the signing of Jeff Carter to a ludicrous 11 year, 58 million dollar deal – at least Carter won’t be 48 when this one expires. With this deal on top of their other financial issues (as well as the new deal for Giroux) it will be interesting to see how they manage to get under the cap next year. The Jeff Carter deal however, may help the Rangers come the end of the season. Given that the deal roughly equates to 5.5m per year it will be interesting to see what Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan can realistically expect. Yes, Claude Giroux and David Backes are more reasonable comparisons when considering age, output, draft status etc, but don’t discount the fact a player that has come close to 50 goals has taken a 5.5m deal to sign up in Philly. For arguments sake, say Dubinsky scores 30 goals, 60 points; can he really command near the same as a 46 goal player, one that has 4 seasons of 23 goals or more? Surely not. It’s not necessarily the most appropriate comparable but I’m sure Carter’s name will be mentioned during negotiations.

Meanwhile, closer to home and Martin Biron will start once more, this time against Edmonton on Sunday. With Lundqvist apparently still suffering affects of his sinus issues Biron gets the nod for another start. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing with a back to back on tap (Pittsburgh on Monday) and in the long run it will give Lundqvist extra days off over the entire season. On top of that is the fact that Biron deserves more playing time because his play has warranted it. He was good against St Louis and excellent against Buffalo and has an excellent 2.26GAA and a solid .912 SV% for the season. So far Biron has proven an excellent addition, allowing for the blip against Atlanta. He’s given the Rangers enough confidence in their back up not to over use Lundqvist and that will prove vital in the long run. The Edmonton game is one the Rangers really need to win, not just because it’s at home but because it’s against a really struggling opponent. Having Lundqvist (hopefully) 100% for the Pens game is the much better, safer decision.