The New York Rangers made a splash today, naming Peter Laviolette their new head coach. Although general manager (GM) Chris Drury has now secured his coach, the team remains uncertain as fans wait to see what moves are made to stay under the salary cap while fielding a team that can compete for a Stanley Cup.
Instead of sitting around and waiting for news of signings and trades to start coming in, I decided to log into CapFriendly.com and utilize their Armchair GM tool. If you have not used it yet, the Armchair GM tool is a fantastic feature that allows you to play GM virtually for any team.
Whether you are utilizing it to make outlandish trades come to your virtual reality or to help ensure the team you are building is under the cap, it is an incredible tool. You may not love the roster I have put together, but this is just the first roster I will post, as Drury has some maneuverability.
The roster, of course, is under the salary cap, which is a projected $83.5 million for 2023-24, a modest $1 million increase. Although I also signed minor league free agents, I will not include their contracts as they don’t count toward the NHL salary cap when they are in the minors.
Lastly, if you like the roster and have ideas for the next one, leave a comment, and I will try to incorporate it!
Signing the Rangers’ RFAs
This year’s most notable restricted free agents (RFAs) for the Rangers are K’Andre Miller, Alexis Lafreniere, and Zachary Jones. To keep a team intact in the NHL’s salary cap era, it is essential to keep the RFAs on your roster, as they are usually the most affordable and controllable assets a team could have.
Lafreniere was the first-overall pick in 2020 and has not lived up to the hype. Has he been put in the best position to excel? No, but he had not produced remotely close to what was expected of him when Sidney Crosby comparisons were tossed around on draft day. Regardless, trading him is not the right option either. He is a cost-controllable asset who likely will have no choice but to accept a bridge deal.
Miller is much trickier. The chance of an offer sheet is real, but the Rangers can only control what they will offer. Due to the team’s cap situation, Miller will likely have to take less term and money to stay with the Blueshirts than another franchise with more room to spend. A tightrope must be carefully walked by Drury must carefully walk a tightrope here — he needs to offer a team-friendly deal that does not insult the player and tarnish the relationship.
Miller, 23, and Lafreniere, 21, are both extremely young with bright futures. There is a chance that both wind up outperforming their deals and handcuff the Rangers into losing one or even both when they hit free agency again. That is a chance the organization will be willing to take.
Switching to Jones, he has yet to crack the NHL as a regular, having spent most of his time with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Jones has the skill, and the Rangers can ill-afford to let another young blueliner walk, so I expect him to be brought back as well.
I chose to sign all three, keeping the contracts to what I believe is fair market value and still allowing the Rangers to fill out the roster.
Final RFA Signings: Alexis Lafreniere: 2 years x $2 million average annual value (AAV), K’Andre Miller: 3 years x $4.5 million AAV, Zachary Jones: 1 year x $950,000 AAV
Rangers’ Trades: Making Moves
Starting this offseason and before signing any of their RFAs, the Rangers have $11,762,917, or roughly one Artemi Panarin cap-hit, in cap space for a roster with just 14 spots taken. The likelihood is high that at least one trade will have to occur to open up the flexibility needed to fill out the roster.
Barclay Goodrow has been a workhorse for the Rangers, but at $3.6 million per year, it’s hard to justify that price tag for a fourth-line player. To create the cap space needed for other moves, I was forced to part ways with Goodrow. Since he has a 15-team no-trade list, I thought of teams with cap space that may interest him.
The Seattle Kraken had a surprise playoff run and could use more veteran grinders like Goodrow. I sent Goodrow to the Kraken with the Rangers’ seventh-round pick in 2024 in exchange for the Kraken’s third-round pick in 2024.
Related: Assessing the Rangers’ Championship Window
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I then flipped that third-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Jack Drury, who seems to be unhappy with his current situation (from, ‘Carolina Hurricanes offseason: Which players are locks to stay? Who might be gone?,’ by The Athletic, 6/8/23). Drury is the type of cost-controllable player the Rangers could use. He is a center, winning 53.17 percent of his faceoffs during the 2022-23 season.
In addition, he is Drury’s nephew and could feel comfortable coming to an organization with family ties. The 23-year-old has one year remaining at a $925,000 cap hit and will be an RFA after the season.
Rangers’ UFA Signings
I signed four unrestricted free agents (UFAs) to finalize the roster. I targeted players that could be flexible with ice time and fill voids in the current lineup. Also, I looked for players who would fit within the salary cap.
Starting it off, I knew Evan Rodrigues would be a great fit. He could play center or wing and, as a right-handed shot, would be playing on his natural wing with Panarin. Rodrigues has speed and can control possession and create offense at 5-on-5. The Rangers’ second line succeeded early on with Jimmy Vesey on that wing, playing a similar style to Rodrigues.
The difference is that Rodrigues has more natural scoring ability and would boost the Rangers’ offense. Next, I re-signed Tyler Motte. Motte brings the intangibles to the team and is as defensively responsible for a forward as there is in the NHL.
We know the Rangers like the player, and we know he enjoys being on Broadway. So, let’s keep him around this time instead of giving up more assets to acquire him again. Lastly, I re-signed Jaroslav Halak as the backup goaltender, but at a pay decrease. There are other options on the market, like David Rittich, so the Rangers would be wise to avoid giving Halak anywhere close to the $1.5 million they signed him for last season.
Final UFA signings: Evan Rodrigues: 2 years x $3.5 million AAV, Tyler Motte: 2 years x $1.2 million AAV, Jaroslav Halak: 1 year x $950,000 AAV.
Meet Your 2023-24 Mock Rangers
With the roster finalized, the Rangers would have $551,251 in cap space left over. And the roster would look like this.
Line 1: Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Line 2: Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Evan Rodrigues
Line 3: Alexis Lafreniere – Filip Chytil – Jimmy Vesey
Line 4: Will Cuylle – Jack Drury – Tyler Motte
Defense Pair 1: Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
Defense Pair 2: K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Defense Pair 3: Zachary Jones – Braden Schneider
Extra: Ben Harpur
Goalies: Igor Shesterkin & Jaroslav Halak
A lot can change between now and draft night, with trades occurring often on the draft floor. So, with that, edition one is complete, and edition two will be written once the draft has concluded and the dust has settled! Comment to let me know what you want to see in the next edition!