Premature ECapulation

In the Wonderful world of the salary capped NHL fans can always point to the future and speculate at what types of decisions management will make because they want to. They can also try to decipher what moves will be made because they have to.

I decided to delve into the New York Rangers cap situation regarding what we may see on the ice in the 2008-2009 season, just for some amusement. As I kept looking over things my mood got even better. The Rangers are in a pretty tight spot this season. However, with a decent amount of largerish contracts coming off of the books, along with an abundance of young talent coming up the ranks, the Rangers cap situation for next season is nowhere near as dire as it is this season.

This may get a bit long winded but well, that's the way cap talk goes.

Forwards under contract for 2008-2009 and their salary cap hit

Scott Gomez, 7.37 million

Chris Drury, 7.05 million

Jaromir Jagr, 4.9 million

Peter Prucha, 1.6 million

Dubinsky, 630 thousand

Blair Betts, 610 thousand

Ryan Callahan, 600 thousand

Colton Orr, 500 thousand

Ryan Hollweg, 500 thousand

Forwards that are Restricted Free Agents for 2008-2009

Marcel Hossa and Nigel Dawes

I'd have to say that with the young forwards with offensive potential in the Rangers system I'd have to say goodbye to Hossa. Hossa aside from the odd shootout goal hasn't shown enough to warrant keeping him on the roster and keeping more talented wingers in the minors. Yes he's been a decent penalty killer, there are other guys in the system that can kill penalties. Hossa has been given so many chances to shine alongside Jagr, and has come up relatively empty. Re-sign Nigel Dawes for 2 years at about 1.25 million. He'd still be arbitration elligible after that contract.
Forwards that are Unrestricted Free Agents for 2008-2009

Sean Avery

Love him or hate him, he brings alot to the table. The Rangers record when he is healthy and in the lineup says all there is to say. He seems to be the straw that stirs the drink. Hopefully another year to mature will help make him realize that being loved in New York is a situation that could only benefit his career. If he can curtail the pregame shenanigans and continue to play his game at a high level there is nothing stopping this guy from becoming a very important building block for the post Jagr Rangers. I'd like to see him re-signed for 3.oo per year for three years.

Forwards rundown: With the players under contract and re-signing Dawes and Avery that would leave the Rangers with 11 forwards on the NHL roster for a total of 28.01 million dollars worth of the cap hit.

Defensemen Under Contract for 2008-2009
Marc Staal, 765 thousand
Thomas Pock, 685 thousand

Defensemen that are Restricted Free Agents for 2008-2009
Fedor Tyutin, Dan Girardi. I'd re-sign them both. And here the Rangers are in a great position. Neither player would get a huge award in arbitration due to limited offensive stats, yet both are very good young defensemen.They would each get a significant raise. I'd give each a three year deal, for Tyutin 2.5 million and for Girardi 1.25 million.

Defensemen that are Unrestricted Free Agents for 2008-2009
Michael Roszival, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Jason Strudwick. I'd resign Roszival for four years at 4.00 million per year. It should be enough to keep him but it's not so high or long of a contract that he couldn't be traded two years down the road when younger talent is ready to push him aside. As of right now, and not knowing how ready the minor leaguers are, I'd keep Strudwick on a contract just like the current one he is on. 500 thousand for one year. I think it's pretty much safe to say that Malik and Mara will both be shown the door.

Defense Rundown: by re-signing Tyutin, Girardi, Roszival and Strudwick that leaves the Rangers with five legit NHL defensemen and Strudwick as a possible sixth but more likely a seventh Defenseman. The total cap hit for this batch would be a whopping 9.7 million. That would bring the total so far up to 37.71 million dollars.

The Goaltending Situation
Henrik Lundqvist signed a one year 4.5 million dollar deal in the off season. It is expected that he will be resigned long term after January 1,2008. I would think he will get a deal worth, for arguement's sake 6.5 million for 4 or 5 years. As for the backup, well Stephen Valiquette is a true NHL backup. He's good enough to play 8-10 games per season, he's a good locker room guy and he gets along well with Lundqvist. Might as well re-sign him. Two years at 650 thousand or so should get that done. The goaltenders would then count for 7.15 million dollars towards the cap.

If all of that happens: The Rangers would be looking at a cap hit of 44.86 million dollars toward the cap. If the cap doesn't go up again this year from just over 50 million, not likely by the way, the Rangers would have a little over 5 million bucks in cap room to spend. Or keep. They would still need a forward. The answer there could very well come from within in either Artem Anisimov, Alexei Cherepanov, Dane Byers, or Greg Moore. They would also need another defenseman that could also come from within in either Michael Sauer, Bobby Sanguinetti (more likely to be in Hartford though), David Liffiton or Ivan Baranka.

Final thoughts: The firesale of 2004 will have a major imprint on the Rangers for the next few years. The fruits of those trades and draft picks are beginning to ripen. It's very possible that the Rangers average age heading into the 2008-2009 season could be a little under 26 years old. And just think back to when it was a rarity that the Rangers even had a player under the age of 26 on the roster.

The big contracts that Glen Sather shelled out for Chris Drury and Scott Gomez may look like an 800lb gorilla in the room, but by the time those contracts are at their midway point $7million for a center will not be out of the ordinary. True it might be tough to keep all of the younger talent as these kids come into new contracts, but it is a much better situation than it used to be.

Really the main glaring question that pops into my head regarding the future of the Rangers is, "When does Al Montoya get traded?"