The Rangers landed the biggest prize in the free agent market yesterday, inking Kevin Shattenkirk to a four year deal worth $6.65 million per season. It was the only major move made by the Blueshirts, as it left them with a bit over $8 million in cap space, which meant they were out of the running for Joe Thornton and/or Patrick Marleau. As always, I have some quick thoughts.
- Shattenkirk wanted to be a Ranger. Larry Brooks said that he came to the Rangers with that offer, which left a significant amount of money on the table. That speaks volumes for how badly he wanted to come here.
- For the Rangers, they get a top-four defenseman on a sweetheart deal that not only keeps them rather flexible this year, but doesn’t hamstring them long term. Four years puts Shattenkirk at 32 years old when the deal expires.
- With Shattenkirk, Ryan McDonagh, Brady Skjei, and Brendan Smith, the Rangers have a legitimate top-four defense worthy of a team competing for a Cup. There are still holes to fill, but this is a start.
- I’m not getting too worked up over Ondrej Pavelec as the backup goalie. He has the talent, but not the consistency. Let Benoit Allaire do his thing. Some of the better options got significantly higher deals than the year and $1.35 million Pavelec got.
- With a shade over $8 million in cap space, the Rangers don’t need to do a bridge deal with Mika Zibanejad. They can get a long-term deal done for probably $5 million or so. That’s going to be important, as Zibanejad, if he were healthy last season, could have had a career year. Perhaps that injury worked well for the Rangers.
Overall a solid first day of free agency for the Rangers. They still need a middle-six center and a 4C to fill out the roster. I’m not sure what Jeff Gorton has planned, but his work isn’t done yet. So far, so good though.
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