Got a few questions regarding free agency, which begins tomorrow at noon. Let’s have at it.

kevin klein

Will he stay or will he go? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

BrooklynVic asks: Do you think the Rangers move any other pieces when free agency reopens Wednesday?

There is a serious logjam on defense. Brady Skjei and Dylan McIlrath are going to be fighting for spots, and all six defensemen from last year are returning, or at least it appears that way. Something has to give. I’ve been saying the Rangers are going to trade Kevin Klein, since he is the most easily moved, and I still believe that to be the case. However, with Carl Hagelin in Anaheim, the Rangers don’t need to move him right away. They can wait until camp, see how the kids perform, and go from there.

And no, I don’t think they are moving Tanner Glass.

BrooklynVic also asks: Why trade your 42-goal scorer when you needed more scoring?

This is in reference to Rick Nash, whom the Rangers are not trading. The logic was all about the salary cap, but let’s be real, there was no logic in this thought process. People get on Nash because he’s an easy target, but conveniently forget he put up 14 points in 19 games this postseason. The Rangers lost to Tampa Bay because they were missing Mats Zuccarello, and half the defense had broken bones.

In regards to more scoring, the hope is that J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Emerson Etem, and possibly Jesper Fast can improve and pick up the scoring that will be left behind by Hagelin and Martin St. Louis.

BrooklynVic had a long mailbag: Zucc – He looks ok, but do you think his injury will prevent some long-term progression/development?

Head injuries are tough. The Rangers said he will be ready by camp. There’s no reason to believe otherwise. This was a freak accident, and not the result of some blind-side hit. But we saw how tough it was for Marc Staal to come back from a freak accident. We shall see.

BrooklynVic had a lot of questions: Do you think the Rangers hold on to Derek Stepan, or package him for a big-time 1C?

With Hagelin gone, the Rangers will hold on to Stepan, who will get roughly $6 million. My expectation is that they will file for arbitration, preventing a team from presenting an offer sheet, but they will settle before his arbitration date. This is the usual motif for Slats and his arbitration RFAs.

BrooklynVic’s last question, I promise: Who is the back up minder thats gonna get 20+ starts next year? Talbot single handedly kept us in the mix and allowed us to compete for Presidents Trophy… Raanta?

I believe this was written before the Raanta trade, so kudos on that guess Vic. Yes, Raanta will be the backup, and there won’t be any kind of drop off from Talbot’s play. Raanta will get 20+ games and put up about a .915 SV%. That’s solid backup work.

Anon asks: Are there any major UFA targets you want the Rangers to go after?

First, no need to hide your name.

This free agent class is pretty weak. Michal Frolik is intriguing, but he’s going to get stupid money this summer, like $5 million a year. The Rangers, in a cap crunch, will need to be frugal. I expect some kind of Lee Stempniak-esque depth signing. Perhaps someone like Mike Santorelli, who is a solid possession player, plays wing and center, and can play up and down the lineup, is a good fit. Depends on price.

Speaking of price, any multi-year deals are a big no-no this year. The Canadian Dollar has proven to be a pretty wild variable in cap calculations, and the Rangers can ill-afford to have any more bad contracts on the books. If the CAD doesn’t rebound, the cap won’t go up as much as teams had previously hoped.

That’s it for today. As always, use the Mailbag option on the sidebar to shoot us emails with any questions you want to have answered on the blog.

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