The Rangers have made the financial commitment to Barclay Goodrow for what, by any objective measure, is an overpayment at a cap hit of $3.64 million per season on a six-year, $21.85 million contract.
But having made that leap after sending a seventh-rounder to Tampa Bay for the rights to Goodrow, then an impending free-agent winger, it now becomes incumbent upon general manager Chris Drury to make the commitment to surround him with complementary players while forming a dedicated checking line.
That will create ripples throughout the organization as the GM attempts to remake the Rangers into a more playoff-compatible team that likely will feature less raw talent than the roster assembled by former GM Jeff Gorton, but will be more balanced and better equipped to compete against the Islanders of the world.
Gorton came out of the 2020 bubble fiasco acknowledging that the Rangers needed to become tougher to play against, then did nothing to address the matter in the short term. The issue lingered and festered. The new regime is addressing the defect as a priority.
But given the composition of the personnel, it is going to be tricky business. It is not simply about moving one piece here and another there. It is not even about identifying bottom-six forwards and providing them with roles. Not yet. That comes second. First, is acquiring them. Or maybe promoting them. Because, aside from Goodrow and fourth-line center Kevin Rooney, the Rangers really don’t have role players.
There is every chance Goodrow will center the third line, though he spent his year-plus with the repeat champion Lightning on the wing. The 28-year-old had super fancy faceoff stats with San Jose in 2017-18 and 2018-19 (55.4 percent) and clicked at 50 percent last year for the Lightning. It is also probably easier to find wingers to bookend the checking line than it would be to find a center who fits the profile, so moving Goodrow back into the middle makes some sense.
But checking the Rangers’ roster, there appears to be a black hole of candidates. Chris Kreider is not equipped for that role. Nor is Vitaly Kravtsov. Neither are Alexis Lafreniere or Kaapo Kakko. And if the third line is going to be a dedicated checking unit, you can’t stack Kreider, Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin on the left.
So Lafreniere probably will move to the right. Which, friends, is just another reason why Drury has been shopping Buchnevich for weeks. Without a current vacancy at the top, Drury will have to create one.
Of course, there is also the salary cap as it relates to Buchnevich. The Rangers are in fine fashion for this coming season. But it becomes extremely tight the year after that and almost impossible already in two seasons. For 2023-24, you have to figure that Adam Fox will come in at least at $9M per on his second contract, and probably closer to an annual $10M, depending upon Cale Makar’s anticipated deal with Colorado. You have to figure Igor Shesterkin, only two years away from unrestricted free agency and thus holding a massive amount of leverage, for at least $6M per for at least five years beginning this year.
By the way, that would constitute a record for a goaltender coming out of entry-level, with Sergei Bobrovsky’s two-year deal with Columbus for $5.625M per in 2013 still the standard. Second highest? Henrik Lundqvist’s one-year, $4.25M contract for 2007-08. Third? Matt Murray, coming off a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh, for $3.75M per for three years.
So, paying it forward. Figuring $15.5M combined for Fox and Shesterkin, plus $11.64M for Panarin, $6.5M for Kreider, $8.0M for Jacob Trouba, $3.0M for Ryan Lindgren and $3.642M for Goodrow, that amounts to just under $48.29M for seven players. The Rangers would thus have around $34M if the cap goes to $82.5M to sign another 15 players — including a first- and second-line center. There is no room for another $5.5M-$6.0M winger with second contracts coming up for Lafreniere and Kakko. No room, then, for Buchnevich.
So who do the Rangers have who would be compatible with Goodrow and fit the requirements to relentlessly grind, pressure the puck, work it down low and stifle the opposition? Maybe Morgan Barron? Could Tim Gettinger or Ty Ronning, both impending restricted free agents due qualifying offers, be a fit? Oh, and then Drury also has to fill the fourth line around Rooney. The free-agent market opens on July 28.
The Rangers have made a considerable financial commitment to Goodrow. That was the easy part. Now management must make the commitment to build a unit around the new man and put him in a position in which he can make the most impact. If not, if the idea is to just throw him onto a line with, say, Kreider and Filip Chytil, the Rangers might just as well have given the money to me.
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July 23, 2021 at 09:39AM
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Barclay Goodrow signing was easy part of tricky Rangers makeover - New York Post
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