The Rangers need Zibanejad and Zibanejad and his agent brother know this. His numbers the last two years were very good but his start to last season after recovering from COVID should bring his price down by quite a bit. How many of his points were in the two blowouts against Philly? He wasn't an effective top 6 forward the majority of the season but was one of the best in the league when he felt like it and was fully recovered from COVID.
6 years, $50 million should be the deal. Modified NMC the first year, full NTC the following two years, and a modified NTC the last three years. NMC years are when the Rangers Cup window will be wide open if everything goes according to plan.
Zibanejad and his camp want $10 million per season long term. Drury learned well from Gorton on running a tight ship. Nothing has leaked to the media unless they've wanted it to. The Goodrow signing, Nemeth signing, etc. Those are nuggets Sather gave to Brooksie. The Rangers offer hasn't leaked, but would imaginable be for about 5 years and $35 million. The Landeskog extension in Colorado took until the 11th hour. Both teams were really far apart until the last minute when the team blinked. The Rangers can't blink on Zibanejad.
The plan was to acquire Eichel and have Zibanejad on the team too? Good luck to them. Won't happen without significant retention to the tune of at least 33% for the next five years. It doesn't even fit the Rangers cap. Where is the money coming from to give a second contract to Fox and Lafreniere? Fox is going to command mega bucks. Lafreniere arrived late in the season and was close to a point per game player down the stretch. No bridge contract for him. Unless both break out this year, Kravtsov and Kakko can both be bridged. Kick their cans down the road a bit until the cap starts going up again.
Drury will need to be smart with the length of contracts he gives out. Goodrow for 6 years wasn't a good start. Chytil being bridged is just ok. Shesterkin for 4 years was just ok, and depending on who you ask, wasn't very smart. He paid 500K more than market value for each player and one was already drafted by and on the team. Not a good start, IMO. We will see, though.
Lock Zibanejad up at a team friendly deal, give him an A for his jersey and call it a day. His teammates like him and he's good for thr room based on everything I've seen and read. Larkin is the guy to go after to bring some speed and forechecking up the middle to compliment the skill wingers in Panarin, Kravtsov, and Lafreniere. Kakko is going to end up more a two way winger than offensive dynamo that has some great skill, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Trade for Larkin next summer after self renting Strome for the year and discuss extension right away. Sell the team as ready to contend right in that moment and tell him let's get to work. He can always go back to Detroit in his 30's when they'll be ready to contend again. They have a long road in front of them. Drury's new AGM will give him the full scouting report on him.
Defense is set barring catastrophic injuries that pigeonhole out friend Hajek into playing more than he should. A healthy Shesterkin and this team finishes 2nd or 3rd with the potential to win the division this year.
Buckle up. It's going to be a ride the next couple of years.
I agree with pretty much all of this post. If drury doesn’t get Eichel for a price he’s willing to pay, I believe this is the route that lies ahead. This is a make or break year for chytil whether we fans like it or not. He’ll either step up to the plate and assume 2C duties, or will most likely be traded.
Furthermore, I think people are really sleeping on Morgan Barron. He will likely be the 3C going fwd. he might be in the AHL for a half year at most, and that just until 1 of strome/chytil are traded.
He has An NHL body, an NHL shot, plays along the boards very well, plays down low well, will hit, and has Goodrow riding shot gun with him on 3rd line most likely. He is already 22 years old, besides refining his skating skills a bit, I doubt they think it’s beneficial to NYR to keep him in Hartford when he can help the big team now in the style of play that Gallant wants out of his bottom 6.
I realize the AHL wasn’t the strongest last year, but at this point in time, he’s not likely to develop any crazy skills, I doubt he’ll get bigger, is he going to get better along the boards and down low then he is now? Is he going to produce better then a PPG down there next season??? Both are unlikely imo. And they don’t need him to. He’s going to be a fixture in the bottom 6 going fwd and their would be minimal reasons to keep him in the A for an extended length of time at this point.
If Drury/Gallant are trying to mimic/recreate the features Vegas had in its bottom 6 while gallant was there and had success, Barron checks more boxes going fwd then chytil for that role.
Best case scenario, maybe mid season or at the start of next year NYR centers could look like
Zibby ( resigned)
Larkin( traded for)
Barron
Rooney/Richards/UFA/Trade
I hope fitting Zibby and Larkin both with new deals would be financially feasible.
if they somehow trade for Eichel and decide to move on from zibby, who knows what the center position could look like going fwd
