I get the feeling that the Rangers as an organization saw their 'rebuild' lasting last season and this season until they hit the lottery and were handed Kaako. That would fall directly in line with giving short term 2-year deals to guys like Spooner and Namestnikov and would also be part of the reason why someone like Smith wasn't bought out last year.
We saw the sell-off last year with Hayes and Zuccarello. I believe Gorton's plan was to have a final sell-off this year with the likes of Kreider, Namestnikov, Spooner, Fast. And then address the likes of Staal, Smith and Shattenkirk this upcoming off-season.
Honestly, it would have been a smart move if Spooner had put in any amount of work and been remotely the same player he was in Boston. He was tracking, consistently as a 40-45 point player. Namestnikov, even as a 35 point player has value at a deadline as well.
I do agree. Names was an overpay, but you still need NHL Players to field a team. You cannot throw a team of rookies, nobodies, and worthlessness out there. You think the product on ice was bad last year? Imagine replacement level rookies included lol
2019-20 will be tight
The Rangers will have very little cap space available this season--no more than $1M at any given time. The plus side is that
Kravstov, Andersson, Hajek, Lindgren, Rykov, Letteri, Kakko, Chytil, Fox, and Georgie are all waiver exempt--players that we can send down whenever at no expense to get them playing time, get some quick cap relief, manipulate the roster. it's a small price to pay for acquiring Panarin AND Trouba.
Cool part is those pieces can still be sold this season:
Kreider - Late 1st round pick and prospect at the deadline
Namestnikov - 3rd round pick
Fast - 3rd round pick
Strome - 2nd round pick if he puts up another high shooting percentage year
Very possible that Smith can boost his value -- I highly doubt it, but if they are playing well, and there is a taker to move that contract at 50%, the Rangers should take it. Would love to see something like that happen for Staal but I don't think the move is ever going to exist at this point... Staal will end up being here until he retires or gets an equipment allergy. Hank is here for several more years, prob takes a few 1 year deals after his current deal ends.
2020-21 will be a little more loose, but still slightly tight.
The Rangers have $14.4M coming off the cap next year (2020-21) in Kreider, Names, Strome, Fast, and Belesky (assumes he is already buried). The only guys to resign immediately are Lemuiex and DeAngelo long term. The rest of the guys can be stop gap fillers.
Rangers have $7.494M in dead cap space next year (2020-21) in Girardi, Spooner, and Shattenkirk, which is an increase of $2.1M compared to this year (2019-20)
Rangers net cap space gain next year (2020-21) of $12.3M compared to this year (2019-20)
Georgiev, Lemiux, and DeAngelo are the only guys to be resigned, hopefully the latter earns a long term deal. Strome most likely let go since his QO will be $3.2M
2021-22 is where the seas will part
Rangers have $18.55M coming off the cap in 2021-22 in Staal, Hank, and Smith. On top of this, their dead cap falls from $7.494M to $2.544M (an increase of $4.95M). This is a net cap space gain of $23.45M
Andersson, Howden, Chytil, Buchenvich, Hajek are all RFAs, not all are getting long term deals.
This team was able to navigate a cap crunch at the expense of one asset who was not worth much in the league, and probably wouldn't have garnered more than a couple of mid round draft picks (think Zucc return) at this upcoming deadline. In return we have an bonafide elite talent in Kakko, another in Panarin, a top pairing defenseman in Trouba, and a pipeline stacked with D options in the future, plus a young forward corps that will compete for years to come.
