Chris Drury, Rangers still have more to do after free-agent frenzy
K'Andre Miller of the Rangers skates with the puck during the third period against the Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on April 13. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers bringing in nine players within 5 1⁄2 hours of the market opening on Saturday, albeit all short-term, cheaper options or organizational depth signings, probably wasn’t on anybody’s free-agent bingo card.
Where the balance falls between quantity and quality remains to be determined, but there certainly was logic to president and general manager Chris Drury’s rapid-fire moves. Presuming forwards Blake Wheeler, Tyler Pitlick, Alex Belzile and Nick Bonino, defenseman Erik Gustafsson and goalie Jonathan Quick — among Saturday’s signees — start the season on the roster, the Rangers added an aggregate of only $4.8 million in salary.
Between firing Gerald Gallant, hiring Peter Laviolette as the Rangers’ new coach and Saturday’s unexpected haul, it’s certainly been a busy offseason for Drury. But his hardest work may lay ahead.
Restricted free agents K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere — Drury adamantly insisted on Saturday that he has not tried to shop the latter — both need new contracts. The Rangers have approximately $6.2 million in space under the $83.5 million salary-cap ceiling, which likely isn’t enough to squeeze in both young players.
Teams can exceed the cap ceiling by 10% until opening night, so that does give Drury some wiggle room.
But the Rangers could be handcuffed and wrecked if Miller, whom the team absolutely cannot lose, receives an offer sheet from another club. The Rangers have to hope to sign Miller, 23, to a deal worth about $4.5 million annually, but that might be a pipe dream.
Lafreniere, 21, is coming off his entry-level three-year, $11.325 million deal that carried a cap hit of $925,000. Figure the cap hit for the first overall pick in 2020 now will at least double.
Locking up the younger players is crucial for Drury because he’s bet heavily on over-30 veterans for his win-now roster. He likely will be shopping in the same aisles next offseason given that Wheeler (36), Quick (37), Bonino (35), Pitlick (31) and Gustafsson (31) all have one-year deals.
Of course there are risks in relying on older NHLers. The Rangers’ top forwards, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, are all north of 30 as well. Quick, the 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, has had a sub-.900 save percentage in three of the last five seasons.
Age is a funny thing. It’s not a factor until it is. Ask the 1965 Yankees. With the franchise coming off five straight World Series appearances, they finished sixth with a 77-85 record.
Drury must keep his roster age-balanced.
Notes & quotes: The Rangers signed defenseman Mac Hollowell, who became an unrestricted free agent when the Maple Leafs did not tender him a qualifying offer, to a one-year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $160,000 in the AHL, per CapFriendly.com. The 5-9, 170-pound righthanded shot played in his first six NHL games with the Maple Leafs last season after the organization selected him in the fourth round in 2018 . . . The Rangers opened their four-day prospect development camp Sunday at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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