Now the Rangers are officially in a bind.
As expected, the club signed restricted free agent defenseman Jacob Trouba on Friday to a seven-year, $56 million deal that carries an annual salary cap hit of $8 million. That temporarily puts the Blueshirts into the summer allowance over the cap ceiling of $81.5 million, with just over a month to figure out how to cut some salary.
That could very well include trading Chris Kreider and the one year remaining on his deal at $4.625 million and continuing to look for anyone willing to bite on the one year and $4 million left for Vladislav Namestnikov. Certainly this also makes things more difficult for the three remaining restricted free agents — Pavel Buchnevich (with an arbitration hearing set for July 29), Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo.
It also makes the buying out of defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk (two more years at $6.65 million per) and Brendan Smith (two more years at $4.35 million per) a lot more real. If Smith clears waivers and heads to AHL Hartford, then the Rangers would save $1.25 million against the cap.
As the Rangers advance in this rebuilding process — or, as new team president John Davidson calls it, “the build” — they are far more advanced than most thought they would be at this juncture. That includes the signing of star winger Artemi Panarin to a seven-year, $81.5 million deal, and the deft pre-draft trade general manager Jeff Gorton pulled off for Trouba — sending the Jets their own first-round pick (No. 20 overall) obtained in the Kevin Hayes rental, as well as defenseman Neal Pionk.
Gorton knew obtaining Trouba was going to cost quite a bit when it came time to sign the 25-year-old to a new deal. But he is just the type of player Gorton has been looking for, adding the puck-mover to the right side.At 6-foot-3, 202 pounds, Trouba is a big body who put up eight goals and 50 points while playing in all 82 games for the Jets this past season. Having been Winnipeg’s first-round pick (No. 9 overall) in 2012, Trouba has 408 career NHL games under his belt over six seasons, notching 42 goals and 179 points, along with a plus-37 rating.
“I think there is more there,” Trouba said after the trade. “I think I have more I can achieve, more I want to achieve; another level in my game that I think I can get to.”
Trouba’s fiancée is on the path to becoming a doctor, which made a trade to a major American city high on the Rochester, Mich., native’s priority list. By putting the Jets in the position in which they knew they couldn’t sign him, a trade was inevitable and the Rangers were the team that jumped at the opportunity and won the bidding.
Yet in the world of the hard salary cap, that has left the Blueshirts in a tough spot.There is a ton of promise in their young players, who seemingly are ready to be given the chance to make the team in training camp. That includes the No. 2-overall pick from this year, Kaapo Kakko, along with a first-round pick from a year ago Vitali Kravtsov (No. 9 overall). And that is not to forget the two first-rounders from 2017, Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson.
So there are scenarios that are now being forced to play out before head coach David Quinn gets his team come September. Money has to be moved, and some hard decisions are coming.
But this is the road the Rangers chose to go down, and they sure seem better off for it. Now the just have to make it all fit, which won’t be easy at all.