It’s no secret that the young talent on the Rangers roster is not only an integral part of the team’s potential success this season, but for many seasons to come. After Chytil’s overtime game winning goal the other night as well as the recent success of Kakko, Lafreniere, Miller and Schneider, I felt now is as good a time as any for a way too early, what could their next contracts look like preview as Chris Drury and management should certainly be looking to take care of business sooner rather than later.
Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller are among the big names on expiring contracts this season. As of right now, Cap Friendly projects that the Rangers will have roughly $18 million dollars of cap space next season without factoring any contract extensions to any of their current roster players on expiring deals. On top of Chytil, Lafreniere and Miller, the Rangers have Vitaly Kravtsov, Julien Gauthier, Libor Hajek, Sammy Blais, Jimmy Vesey and Jaro Halak on expiring deals. While a majority, if not all of those players have questionable futures with the team, that’s still nine roster players who need extensions or replacements moving forward. So the question is, what kind of extensions can we be looking at for the players who need it most?
Filip Chytil
Is it kind of wild to suggest that Filip Chytil might need to be the Rangers biggest concern at this point? While Lafreniere and Miller are both pivotal parts to this franchise's future, Chytil has arguably looked the best this season and has done so rather consistently. So much so that he has leap-frogged Vincent Trocheck in the depth charts, who was just signed to a seven year contract this past offseason. While many fans, myself included, were very skeptical about Trocheck signing a deal with that kind of term, there very well can be room for both him and Chytil in the Rangers long term plans. While five and a half million dollars is a lot to pay for a third line center, if the team wants to compete for many years to come, it really isn’t that bad a price to pay, assuming the cap ceiling takes a big rise in one of the coming years.
Especially with Kreider starting to slot in more and more on the third line, it can be beneficial for the Rangers to have a 2A and 2B kind of rotation versus a second and third line. If that’s the case, then having Chytil and Trocheck as those two centers is certainly going to leave the Rangers in a good place. If I’m Chris Drury, and I can get Chytil signed to a four year deal with an AAV of $3,925,000, I’d be pretty satisfied. Obviously, any lower would be helpful but four years would bring Chytil to UFA status and at that point, the Rangers cap problems should hopefully be over or at least close to it. If Chytil continues playing like he has and continues to be productive, he could look for more money which would definitely be an issue for the Rangers. All the more reason for them to look to take care of business sooner rather than later as they’re better off with Chytil around for many years to come.
K’Andre Miller
K’Andre Miller is an interesting case, and probably the best candidate to get something long term. Aside from Fox and Trouba, the Rangers don’t have any of their defenders signed past 2024. That being said, Miller may be the best candidate for signing a long term extension versus a bridge deal. Defensemen tend to cost a higher price than forwards do and for the most part, what we’ve seen from Miller shows that investing in his future would be worth the price.
If the Rangers were to sign Miller to a bridge deal, you’d have to think it would start in the three years, three million AAV conversation, likely being closer to four million. If I’m Drury, I look to get Miller signed to something like a $5,850,000 AAV in the 5-7 year range. Everything about his game indicates that there is so much upside with what New York has in this player, they have to try and get him signed to a great valued deal. While Chytil is slowly and steadily becoming priority number one, they do have Zibanejad and Trocheck, as well as Barclay Goodrow who can play center. Without Miller on the back-end, the Rangers have a huge hole in their top-four, especially if Trouba settles into more of a veteran presence on the third pair as Schneider continues to develop.
Alexis Lafreniere
If you look at how the Rangers handled extensions with young players in the past, specifically Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, you’ll see they each signed somewhere in the two for two range. So if we split the difference between what Chytil (as a center) and Kakko signed, you land on $2,200,000. You have to think that per year over two years isn’t a bad bridge for the young star at all but it’ll be interesting to see if the Rangers consider giving him more of a prove it kind of longer term deal. Given the cap situation, it’s hard to see that happening but one way or another, the Rangers have to carefully manage the cap for the foreseeable future. That means unless the price is really right for something long term, they have to be wary of handing out long term deals like candy…. Which is what we said before they went out and gave Trocheck the better half of a decade so, we’ll see what happens.
Nevertheless, Lafreniere has yet to really jump as a star in this league which could help the Rangers' case in potential negotiations. If the Rangers could extend Lafreniere’s bridge to three years, anywhere under two and a half million, I think you’re in pretty good shape. The Rangers toughest cap years are going to be between 2024-2026 so if they can save the big money deals for that 2026 off-season, that would be huge in them getting by these next couple of seasons.
Other Pieces & Loose Ends
Aside from those three, the Rangers have Sammy Blais, Jimmy Vesey, Julien Gauthier, Vitaly Kravtsov, Libor Hajek, Zac Jones, Ben Harpur and Jaro Halak coming off the books at the end of this season. Of all of them, if there was one player I had to bet on being here next season, I’d honestly say Julien Gauthier. Zac Jones would also be a safe bet but everyone else I would say is either up in the air, trader bait, or not worth bringing back. A general rule of thumb for the Rangers moving forward should be anything over a million dollars is way too much to pay a back-up goalie. When you have a goalie like Shesterkin, you don’t need to spend a ton of money on someone who’s going to play 25 games max. God forbid injuries arise, that’s when young guys like Dylan Garand or whomever get their chance to be the next Cam Talbot, Alexandar Georgiev, etc.
For as avid of a Sammy Blais defender as I’ve been all year, I don’t really see a situation in which he comes back to the Rangers. It wouldn’t make sense for him to sign for less than he was making last season and the Rangers certainly should not pay him any more money so it’s safe to assume he will hit free agency. Jimmy Vesey could re-up on a league minimum contract if that’s something he’s interested in but otherwise, would expect him to look for a payday somewhere else. (Same could be said for Ben Harpur I suppose). This leaves Kravtsov, Hajek, Jones and Gauthier.
If the Rangers can re-up Zac Jones on a two-way deal for at least two years, that would be extremely helpful in their quest to stay under the cap moving forward. Libor Hajek has been a pleasant surprise as the team’s sixth defenseman this season and as a result, will likely want more money next season. He will be a restricted free agent, meaning the Rangers could hold out for him to sign a qualifying offer that would hopefully come in the form of a cheap cap hit. They could also look to involve him in a potential deadline trade but regardless, this could very well be Hajek’s last season in New York, which would leave the fate of the infamous Ryan McDonagh trade in the hands of… Karl Henriksson. *sigh*.
Vitaly Kravtsov will also be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and it’s becoming more and more difficult to imagine a future for him in New York when the coaching staff continues to keep him in the press box. There’s still plenty of time this season left for him to consistently play and make an impact in the everyday line-up but if he plays under 40 games and isn’t happy with his progress on the year, I don’t see a scenario in which he even takes a qualifying offer. The longer it takes for him to break into the NHL, the more he is going to need a change of scenery. At this point, a trade is becoming more and more likely.
Julien Gauthier, similarly to Hajek and Kravtsov will be an RFA at the end of the season and could have interest in re-upping, even if it is on a very similar deal as his current one. Gauthier struggled to make the team this season but has nicely settled into a fourth line role and has even started finding the back of the net. If he continues to do just that, he can develop into a guy who can move up and down the line-up. If the Rangers can get him signed for at least another year under a million dollars it would not only benefit the team, but would give Gauthier the chance to potentially see an increased role with the team moving forward.
Other Significant Extensions
The Rangers cap troubles won’t end with Lafreniere, Miller or Chytil as Ryan Lindgren, Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and ultimately Igor Shesterkin will be in need of pay raises. Without the cap taking a big jump at some point in the next couple seasons, there’s a slim chance all of these guys are able to stick around, unless some moves are made. Jacob Trouba will inevitably need to be moved in the final year of his contract and despite Barclay Goodrow being signed for five more years, come 2025, he needs to go as well. The two of these players carry a cap hit over ten million dollars alone, which simply isn’t good when you consider neither of them to be anywhere near the team’s most important players.
Two way, league minimum contracts are going to be this team’s best friend moving forward. With all the work that needs to be done in terms of player contracts, it’s not going to be easy to keep all of these guys around but with the right cap management and moving Goodrow and eventually Trouba, it’s not impossible by any means. It’ll be interesting to see how these situations play out and which player will put pen to paper first. You have to think come the new year, Rangers management will more seriously get to work on some of these potential extensions before they start putting all their focus to trade deadline preparations.
Chris Feldman
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