Derek Stepan Version 2.0

[Green Blob*]

The Rangers don't have the space for a long term deal for Derek. Stepan's agent will want $4M per for a long term deal. The Rangers don't have that room with a $64.3M cap. The cap will go up by 15-16 with the new Canadian TV dollars. It could go up for 14-15. Stepan signs a 2 year bridge deal. 13-14 and 14-15.

Then what happens if he goes and scores two back to back 80 point seasons?

We are ****ED.

The smart thing is long team with this type of player, not short term.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

Man, for the past two seasons I've been quietly thinking to myself that this kid was probably the most overrated player on the team, at least by the boards standards. This coming from someone who was pretty high on him after the WJC.

I'm glad to say Stepan has fed me platefuls of crow this season. Loving his game right now. He's playing like a great 2c and serviceable 1c, right about where he was projected. That's great news going forward.

He's never been overrated what he has been is failing to develop at all. His growth completely stagnated and went backwards for a significant period between last year and the beginning of this year. Now he is doing what everyone thought he would eventually do and it's so sweet. Hopefully Kreider and McI can start doing their thing next year too. (Even if McI does it for the 1st pair of the AHL I'm happy he still has much to work on).

 

[GAGLine]

Then what happens if he goes and scores two back to back 80 point seasons?

We are ****ED.

The smart thing is long team with this type of player, not short term.

No we aren't. Richards is still likely to be bought out. Other than him, only Nash is signed for 2015-16.

What if we give him a long term deal and he regresses? Yeah, if we can sign him for 4 mil per for 5 years and he becomes a PPG player, that's great for us. But like I said earlier, we can't afford to give him a long term contract unless McD gets far less than expected, Clowe isn't re-signed or Richards is bought out.

Even on a short term deal, McD is gonna get paid. He can elect arbitration and get 3-4 mil on a 1 year deal. I think the Rangers will wait until 2014 to buy out Richards. So that leaves Clowe. If the Rangers don't re-sign him, then they can afford to give Stepan a longer term contract.

And as RB said, the cap is going to go up. By the 2015-16 season, it could be back at 70 mil or higher.

 

[NYR Viper]

Stepan has been improving steadily every year. I still think his skating keeps him from being Elite. But he is most definitely a 1C by NYR standards and an outstanding 2C by league standards which is pretty damn great when you have someone like Nash on his line. He is definitely the best Ranger center I've seen since Nylander for certain. BR one year is too small a sample size to qualify him. And he's only 22. I don't know how much he can improve his skating but if he does he will definitely be an elite center.

2c? 12th in center scoring this season after a very slow start. 23 years old. Unless a team has Crosby or Malkin, a true superstar, then he is that teams #1.

 

[5 4 Fighting]

He's never been overrated what he has been is failing to develop at all. His growth completely stagnated and went backwards for a significant period between last year and the beginning of this year. Now he is doing what everyone thought he would eventually do and it's so sweet. Hopefully Kreider and McI can start doing their thing next year too. (Even if McI does it for the 1st pair of the AHL I'm happy he still has much to work on).

Never knew that increasing your point totals every season since your rookie year, while getting higher TOI time and more responsibility meant stagnation. Interesting. What would it be considered if a players point totals and overall play on the ice regressed season to season? Improvement? Stepan is a stud, I knew from his WJC he was something special. This kid still has tons of improving to do, he still oozes potential, offensively and defensively. Once he gets his skating to catch up with his hands, he's going to be our home-grown all-star center. For now, lets keep him our little secret.

 

[NYR Viper]

Pat Leonard ‏@NYDNRangers 25s
Tortorella complimentary of Stepan, who he says has been #NYR's best all-around player this year. Says off-ice poise fosters on-ice poise

Praise from Torts. Funny how he hasn't stunted his growth....weird.

 

[ecemleafs]

Then what happens if he goes and scores two back to back 80 point seasons?

We are ****ED.

The smart thing is long team with this type of player, not short term.

if he scores back to back 80 point seasons then we have a franchise C on our hands and he is deserving of a long term big money contract that will keep him with the rangers for most of his career.

 

[Bluenote13]

Praise from Torts. Funny how he hasn't stunted his growth....weird.

Says off-ice poise fosters on-ice poise

Is that a shot across the Gaborik bow ?

 

[Trxjw]

Praise from Torts. Funny how he hasn't stunted his growth....weird.

To be fair, I think Stepan is a guy who is made for a Tortorella system. He's played this kind of game since SSM. I don't want to turn this into a Tortorella thread, but there is some merit to the criticisms of the way he handles players who aren't "Torts kinda guys."

 

[RangerBoy]

Alex (Anaheim)

Do you think Stepan is a star in the making, or just getting hot at the right time?

Katie Strang (3:08 PM)

I think he's a legitimate first-line center. The fact that Tortorella is touting him, in terms of importance to the team, in the same breath as Ryan Callahan and Henrik Lundqvist tells you something. Has had some up and down points in previous two seasons, but that's to be expected given his age. At 22 years old, Stepan definitely showing signs of becoming a star in this league. Shoot, the guy did have a hat trick in his first NHL game!

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/47776/nhl-with-katie-strang

Scott Gordon coached Stepan at the World Championships a few years ago. He compared Stepan to Patrice Bergeron. Gordon knew Bergeron from Boston.

Derek Stepan, Rangers. Team USA coach Scott Gordon identified Stepan as one of the players he was most impressed with after the tournament was finished, comparing him to Boston’s Patrice Bergeron. “I didn’t realize how good Derek Stepan was,†Gordon told Sporting News. “He was pretty impressive not just from a point standpoint but his hockey intelligence. He’s the whole package.†Stepan had seven points in seven games for Team USA.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/sto...yers-who-can-build-on-strong-world-tournament

Torts mentions Stepan's maturity, says he could sense it during conference call when Stepan was deciding to come out of college.

https://twitter.com/AGrossRecord/status/326386148417081344

 

[RangerBoy]

Brad (New York)

Does Derek Stepan get a 4 or 5 year deal worth 4-4.5 a year or does he get the two year bridge from Slats. With the likes of Skinner, Hall, Eberle, Ekman Larson, O'Reilly getting big dels does he get that kind of money?

Katie Strang (3:44 PM)

By shedding Gaborik's cap space, the Rangers have the flexibility to go longer on deals with RFA's they would have otherwise had to do the traditional bridge deal with: Stepan, Hagelin, McDonagh. Probably depends which of the three, or which two they have to prioritize with a long-term deal

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/47776/nhl-with-katie-strang

Besides Staal,the Rangers have always gone the bridge contract route with non-arb eligible players.

McDonagh and Hagelin are arb eligible.

 

[bishop12]

2c? 12th in center scoring this season after a very slow start. 23 years old. Unless a team has Crosby or Malkin, a true superstar, then he is that teams #1.

No kidding. People throw out '1st line centre" as if there's 6 teams in the league.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

If Richards comes around and they hold onto him, the Rangers will have 3 solid centers, who can slot in on any of the top 3 lines, which is a great thing to have. IMO Stepan is neck and neck with Henrik for the team MVP this season. Thats how clutch he has been.

40 points in 45 games, thats about a 73 point player. Brassard has some skill and is 5X better than Boyle offensively. That will allow Boyle to be what he should be, a 4th line checking faceoff specialist that can move up if need be.

The more I see this kid Moore play the more I like what I see. I'm loving this Gaborik trade. We havent even seen what might be the most influential piece coming back in Dorsett.

But going back to Step - He's been a revelation. A ton of big goals at crucial times during games this season. He just does his thing out there, sneaks around and the defense seems to lose him. Very intelligent player. I saw that ability when he first came up and in the worlds, but its nice to see his development in the NHL progress at such a great clip. To be honest I was a little worried about his skating but when you have the intelligence out there and are strong on the puck like he is, it makes all the difference.

 

[Beacon]

I don't see the Rangers holding onto Brad. It makes a lot more sense to buy him out and replace him with a $4 second line center who will produce no less than the aging Brad will.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

This is from my post in the Stepan/Kadri thread. It's a reply to someone saying Kadri scores in bunches:

That's interesting because Stepan is the exact opposite. The dude has ONE game where he's had more than 2 points all season. Started off with 5 points in 11 games. Since then he's had points in 25 out of 34 games. In that 34 game stretch he's had 2 instances where he went pointless for consecutive games and it was only 2 games in a row.

 

[Kershaw]

Everyone remember when we were supposed to trade him because he was a playoff choker?

lol I remember.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Everyone remember when we were supposed to trade him because he was a playoff choker?

lol I remember.

I remember earlier this season Drew lamenting because we didn't trade him for Nash last year. Considering we have Nash on the team right now AND Stepan and they've had great chemistry, it's especially silly.

 

[The Gloaming]

The point of trading for Nash was partly so that when he came here, he'd have someone to play with. Trading Steps for Nash would have been counterproductive from the start.

Where's Bern with his page long "Trade Stepan" proposal?

 

[Pizza]

Richie helps us go deep and the Rangers are sure to keep him.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

Rangers have almost 16m in cap. I lock up Steps to a long term deal no questions asked

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

And no way is Clowe resigned. He's gonna want more than Cally and he's not that kind of talent anymore

 

[Calad]

Rangers have almost 16m in cap. I lock up Steps to a long term deal no questions asked

Agreed. Him and McD getting locked up long term are our priorities this offseason.

 

[cd211]

Agreed. Him and McD getting locked up long term are our priorities this offseason.

now the question is what will they sign for..

 

[RangerBoy]

Stepan is on pace for a 73.45 point season. 73 points over a full 82 game season. David Krejci had one NHL season under his belt. 73 points in 82 games in the 08-09 season. He signed a 3 year deal worth $3.75M per. $3.5M,$3.75M and $4M. That contract included the non-arb year. Travis Zajac 2nd contract. 4 years. $15.55M. 3 arbitration years and 1 group III year. It will cost the Rangers $4M to re-sign Stepan to longer than a 2 year deal. Stepan is four years away from group III. It would have to be longer than four years. Five years for the $4M per. Similar to Marc Staal. He has a cap hit close to $4M but it includes one group III year.

 

[Beacon]

Five years at $4 seems about right. Guarantees Step money in case of injury, and keeps a good player at a reasonable price for the Rangers.

I see the kid improving further. He can get better just by working on his shot (release, speed and accuracy), which is easy enough. A better shot will not only increase his goals, but will open up more space on the ice for assists too.