Rangers add Blake Wheeler, Jonathan Quick on first day of free agency
Right wing Blake Wheeler signed with the Rangers after playing last season with the Winnipeg Jets. Credit: AP/Nathan Denette
The Rangers didn’t have a ton of money available to spend, but general manager Chris Drury found a way to nevertheless make a pretty good splash on the first day of free agency Saturday. He signed former Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler and three-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jonathan Quick to one-year contracts and added penalty-killing forwards Tyler Pitlick and Nick Bonino and defenseman Erik Gustafsson, also on one-year deals.
Drury also added a couple of depth forwards in Riley Nash and Alex Belzile, signing them to two-year contracts, and a couple of depth defensemen in Connor Mackey and Nikolas Brouillard.
Wheeler, 36, became a free agent after he was bought out of the final season of his five-year, $41.25 million contract by the Jets. A righthanded shooter, he adds massive size (6-5, 220 pounds) and versatility to the roster and fills a big hole at right wing. He had 16 goals and 55 points in 72 games for Winnipeg in 2022-23 and has 310 goals and 922 points in 15 seasons with Winnipeg/Atlanta and Boston.
“He does a lot of everything out there,’’ Drury said. “A big veteran winger, we think he can move up and down our lineup. He’s certainly someone who wanted to be here and believes in what we’re doing, and we’re happy he’s on board.’’
Getting players who believe in what the Rangers are doing — chasing a Stanley Cup — was key for Drury, who didn’t have much room under the salary cap to go free-agent shopping. He went into free agency with about $11.76 million available to re-sign restricted free agents K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere and fill out the roster.
Because Wheeler is getting paid a sizable amount of money by Winnipeg after his buyout, he was willing to take a deal that will pay him $800,000 in base salary plus incentives that could max out at $300,000.
Quick, who was a Rangers fan while growing up in Connecticut, signed for $825,000 and the potential to earn another $100,000 in incentives to back up No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin.
“A Connecticut kid that wanted to come here and play here and be a Ranger, and he obviously knows all about Shesty and his accomplishments, and I think he’s ready to take on a role of mentor,’’ Drury said of Quick, whose 375 wins are second-most among American-born goalies.
Quick, 37, won two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings and was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP in 2012. He surprisingly was dealt to Columbus at the March trade deadline and relayed by Columbus to Vegas. He then won the Stanley Cup again as the Golden Knights’ No. 3 goaltender.
Gustafsson, 31, a 6-foot, 190-pounder, had seven goals and 35 assists in 70 games for Toronto and Washington this past season. He is scheduled to earn $825,000.
Bonino, 35, who had 10 goals and nine assists in 62 games for the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, will earn $800,000. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins in 2016 and ’17.
Pitlick, 31, will earn $787,500. He had seven goals and nine assists in 61 games with the St. Louis Blues.
Drury said adding those two players should help give new coach Peter Laviolette the kind of grit he wants from players on the bottom two lines. At his introductory news conference last month, Laviolette said he favors “an aggressive approach’’ on his teams.
“It’s about pressuring, it’s about puck pursuit, it’s about the battle level,’’ Laviolette said. “That compete level, the grit. It’s that grind in the game that makes teams great.’’
Adding Wheeler, Quick, Gustafsson, Bonino and Pitlick to the roster takes the Rangers’ payroll to $75.165 million for 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders. With the NHL salary cap set at $83.5 million, that leaves $8.335 million to sign Miller and Lafreniere, plus maybe one extra forward. It might just be barely enough.
“In this business, agents and players alike are aware of the limited cap space we do have and did have,’’ Drury said. “We’re fortunate that the players that we did sign today wanted to be here.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
More Rangers
