Could the Rangers Pay for Playoff Success?

It may be wise, for the long term success, for every Rangers fan to hope the Rangers don’t have a great playoff if they get there. Joking aside, but in all seriousness a good end to the regular season and any kind of surprising run in the second season could hamper the Rangers long term planning and, as usual, it all comes back to the dollar.

We’ve discussed how Ryan Callahan is very likely to cash in, in the summer, thanks to a great year – injury aside. Brandon Dubinsky will also get a nice raise as he leads the Rangers in points and ice time among forwards, as well as playing every situation. It doesn’t stop there however. As Dave recently pointed out there are several key Rangers due to get raises this summer. What’s noticeable amongst them all is that they are all rounding into form at the most important time of the year. Anisimov is finally showing some consistency and looking like a legitimate scoring threat, Mike Sauer improves with every game and is perhaps the find of the season and Brian Boyle has exploded this year giving the Rangers a two way threat they couldn’t have foreseen prior to the season. So it’s not just that these young, core players need locking up, it’s the fact they’re playing so well right now, right before negotiation time. That’s something that couldn’t be worse timing for the Rangers – strictly from a financial point of view.

There’s no point predicting the dollars each will get, it’s enough to assume that all will get handsome rises. Throw in to the mix the Rangers going hard at Brad Richards and there may be very, very little dollars to go around. All this makes the likelihood of Chris Drury returning daunting, and makes the likelihood of Matt Gilroy and Sean Avery (becoming less relevant by the week) being retained much less likely. This is without remembering the Gorilla, not in the room, but in Connecticut… The key for the Rangers is to get their RFA’s locked up and not handcuff themselves long term. Sather has done well to rid himself of some ugly contracts so the last thing this team needs is more cap headaches. Depth is one of the keys to the cup so retaining as much depth and cap flexibility as possible will be paramount this summer. So as several Rangers keep auditioning for their new deals and they keep being key contributors this all becomes another sub plot to the remainder of the Rangers season. Thanks to all this potential financial shake up this summer could be another one where the Rangers roster sees significant change.