derek stepan

Stepan (Photo: AP)

Derek Stepan’s arbitration date is tomorrow, and he will be the talk of Rangerland until the day he signs. So here are some things to expect to hear over the next two days.

1. Everyone will flip out over Stepan’s asking price.

Stepan is asking for $7.25 million in arbitration. Insert rage here.

In reality, Stepan’s asking price is actually reasonable. He’s worth more than that on the open market, but for some reason people have an aversion to signing homegrown players to large contracts. The kid is 25 years old and was on a 66 point pace over a full 82 games. He did this while dragging around a 41-year-old and clearly lost it Martin St. Louis on his line.

2. No one will have an issue with the Rangers’ price.

The Rangers low-balled Stepan at $5.2 million. That’s a $2 million raise, but significantly below market value. But there’s no rage because….logic.

Side note: Arbitration asking prices are exaggerated on both sides. Considering the dollar amounts submitted, both sides are close.

3. Stepan is greedy.

God forbid a player get his value. Don’t you ask for as much money as possible at your job?

4. Stepan isn’t worth $x million.

Because your opinion > market value.

5. The Rangers have cap issues, so they should trade Stepan.

Let’s ignore the $4.35 million tied up in their 6D and 13F, or the $5.5 million tied up into a guy playing way over his head. No, let’s trade the home grown 40-assist top line center because he doesn’t win faceoffs.

6. Trade Stepan for Anze Kopitar.

Yes, that was proposed to me on Twitter. I’m not linking to it because I feel bad.

7. The Rangers didn’t score goals, and Stepan doesn’t score goals.

He’s a shade below 20 goals per season, and he’s a 40 assist guy. They don’t grow on trees, and goal scorers need players to get them the puck.

8. Stepan is going to get his $7.25 million asking price.

How many of these have we been through together? Every year it’s the same exercise. Player X asks for $Y million. Then folks are “shocked” he settled for less than his $Y million asking price. Even if you don’t understand how negotiations work, you should learn your lesson from the countless previous RFAs. The asking price is never the settling price.

9. The arbitrator will always settle on the middle ground.

In this case, the middle ground is $6.3 million. This always happens if the case actually goes to arbitration. Which brings me to…

10. This will not get to arbitration.

Very few cases actually get to arbitration. This one is no different. It won’t get there. They will settle on a deal before, probably Monday. My guess is six years at $6.6 million.

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