Rangers face some personnel decisions this offseason
Dawson Mercer of the Devils commits a tripping penalty late during the first period against Patrick Kane of the Rangers in Game 6 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
NEWARK — Five players who were in uniform for the Rangers in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series against the Devils at Prudential Center on Monday — forwards Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Motte, defenseman Niko Mikkola and goaltender Jaroslav Halak — will be unrestricted free agents as of July 1, and two — forward Alexis Lafreniere and defenseman K’Andre Miller — will be restricted free agents. In addition, taxi squad defenseman Libor Hajek is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
How many of them will be back next season?
Miller, 23, and Lafreniere, 21, are the priorities, but how much they get on their new contracts will affect what the rest of the roster looks like.
According to CapFriendly, the Rangers have $71.12 million in salary committed to next season. According to PuckPedia, the Rangers have $611,000 added to that because of salary cap overage due to performance bonuses.
Presuming the salary cap goes up only $1 million over the current $82.5 million, general manager Chris Drury will have roughly $11.8 million available to sign Miller and Lafreniere and then add three forwards, one defenseman and a backup goalie.
Lafreniere likely will get a two-year deal paying him in the neighborhood of the $2.1 million cap hit Kaapo Kakko signed for last summer, and if Miller gets $5 million per year, that would leave about $4.6 million to fill out the roster.
Kane, Tarasenko and Mikkola almost certainly won’t be back, but Halak has been a perfect backup to Shesterkin. With 295 career wins, he wants to come back to try to get to 300. He’s the perfect backup, but can the Rangers afford him?
What about Motte, whom they’ve traded for at each of the last two deadlines? Can they find a way to have him start with the team in training camp this time?
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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