Prust To Receive QO, Christensen Will Not

As per Steve Zipay, the Rangers will extend a qualifying offer to RFA Brandon Prust. Prust, who made $500,000 last season, would receive an offer of approximately $550,000-$600,000 for a one year deal. By extending a QO, the Rangers ensure that they will receive compensation if Prust signs an offer sheet. Compensation will vary based on amount of the deal (details here).

Meanwhile, the Rangers will not extend a QO to RFA Erik Christensen. Christensen, who made $850,000 last season, would receive a QO of approximately $900,000, probably a bit more, for one year. In doing so, the Rangers hope to sign Christensen to a deal for more years, and less money. It is risky, but considering that Christensen was claimed off waivers, it was unlikely he would receive a big offer from another team.

Memo to Sather: Avoid 2010 UFAs, Wait for 2011

With the signings of Patrick Marleau and Tomas Plekanec, the UFA market for 2010 went from thin to bare. There are very few big time UFA’s available, and each will certainly be overpaid this summer as a result. The summer of 2010 will be the summer to be a UFA, big contracts from teams with oodles of cap room await those who hit the market.

Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that the Rangers have no cap room to work with this summer. I found myself looking ahead to 2011, and I must say, it is one of the best free agent classes I have ever seen. The list includes Brad Richards, Chara, Jovanovski, Thornton, Lidstrom, Giguere, Semin, Markov, McCabe, Vokoun, Gagne, St. Louis, Patrice Bergeron, Connolly, Brewer, Kaberle, Bryzgalov, Mikko Koivu, Ehrhoff, Hejduk, and Backes.

That is one hell of a list. Currently, the Rangers have just 8 players committed to contract when the summer of 2011 hits, and $22 million in cap space to work with. With that many UFAs set to hit the free agency, it would be the ultimate buyers market, thus bringing prices way down. The top notch guys will get their money, but the aging veterans who put up consistent numbers will see their salary demands take a big hit. This class is comparable to the 2009 MLB free agent class, which featured Sabathia, Teixeira, etc.

Newbury Contract Details

The details from Kris Newbury’s contract signing are in, as per CapGeek. Newbury, who recently re-signed with the Rangers, has a two year, two-way contract that pays him NHL salaries of $500,000 this year and $525,000 next year, for a total cap hit of $512,500. The raise for the 2011-2012 season is due to the rise in minimum salary as per the current CBA. Newbury’s AHL salary is $250,000. Expect to see a lot of contracts with Newbury’s cap hit signed in the coming month, as the rise in the minimum salary from $500,000 to $525,000 will have this affect.

Buyout Period Begins, Who are the Candidates?

Today marks Day One of the 15 day buyout period for NHL contracts. Teams have until June 30 to decide if they will buy players out. Spector at FOX Sports looks at each teams’ buyout candidates, and mentions Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival as potential candidates for the Rangers. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that Redden will be bought out, and this has been discussed ad nauseam here and around the Rangers community.

While buying out Rozsival has only been discussed once here , it’s far less restrictive than buying out Redden. With a cap hit of $2 million or less for three of the four buyout years (a cap hit of $3 million for the other year), this is a far more likely scenario from a monetary standpoint. However, the coaching staff and management are happy with Rozsival, and it was shown by giving him the ‘A’ when Ryan Callahan was out of the lineup at the end of the season. While buying out Redden is unlikely from a monetary standpoint, buying out Rozsival is equally unlikely from a coaching/management standpoint.

When looking at the buyout period realistically, the only candidate that could or would be bought out would be Aaron Voros. Of course, buying out Voros doesn’t provide much cap relief, just $600,000 in extra space this season ($400,000 cap hit), and a $300,000 cap hit for next season, when Voros’ contract will have expired. This doesn’t really offer much of anything for the Rangers, so expect them to be quiet from a buyout perspective. There just simply aren’t any players that can be bought out that make sense fiscally and for the betterment of the team.

Dane Byers Contract Details

Capgeek has the details on Dane Byers contract extension with the Rangers.  Byers signed a one year, two-way contract.  His AHL salary will be $90,000 (a $10,000 increase on last year), and his NHL salary will be $500,000, which is consistent with his salary last year.  Byers will be a restricted free agent when the contract expires.

This deal surprises me a little, as I thought Byers would have pushed for a one-way deal to guarantee himself more money. As a RFA, he had very little negotiating power though.

Salary Cap to Rise for 2010-2011?

During a press conference last week, Gary Bettman announced that the salary cap ceiling may rise as much as $2 million heading into the 2010-2011 season. Considering the current state of the economy, which is not getting better, this is a significant jump. Many cash strapped teams, including the Rangers, can benefit from this $2 million increase.

For the Rangers, the cap money is a big blessing. The Rangers currently have 15 players under contract for next year, and $10 million in cap space. With a few key restricted free agents to sign, the Rangers may not have had enough room to keep everyone they wanted in the organization for next season. The extra $2 million really gives them the cap leeway to get everyone in the team’s future plans under contract.

When news of this broke, many fans had another use for this extra cap space. In short, that extra cap space can be used as what I am going to dub the “Wade Redden buyout space”. Recently, I analyzed the cap hits for buying out Redden, and the amount is a little under a $2 million cap hit for the first two seasons. The logic here is that buying out Redden frees up $4.5 million in cap space, and that $2 million buyout cap hit is essentially covered by the increase in the salary cap. This logic is sound, but it is still incredibly unlikely that the Rangers buy out Redden, or send him to the AHL. Regardless of the fate of Redden, this $2 million really gives the Rangers some much needed breathing room.

Niemi/MZA Contract Details

As per CapGeek, the details of the Mats Zuccarello-Aason and Jyri Niemi contracts are available. Niemi’s deal is a three-year, two-way deal with an NHL cap hit of $620,000. It includes a $595,000 base salary for the first two years, and a $670,000 salary for the final year. A $210,000 (split as $70,000 per season cap hit) signing bonus was also included, which increases the cap hit.

MZA’s contract is a two-year, two-way deal with an NHL cap hit of $1.75 million. His base salary is $900,000, but it includes a signing bonus of $180,000 (split as $90,000 cap hit per season) and a possible $1.7 million in performance bonuses ($850,000 per season). MZA’s contract is a bit pricey for someone his size, but it could be worth it in the long run.

Buying Out Wade Redden

With the Rangers in dire salary cap straits, the need to alleviate pressure on the cap grows everyday. The biggest cry amongst fans has been to buyout Wade Redden, who’s $6.5 million cap hit for the next four seasons is, to put it mildly, atrocious. The thought of buying out Redden is appealing, until you see what it would cost to buy him out. Per CapGeek, it is pricey, and lengthy:

So if the Rangers were to buyout Redden, they would be paying him until the end of the 2017-2018 season. That’s a full eight seasons of Wade Redden, as opposed to the four remaining. The buyout of Redden may not seem like much, but paying $2 million for someone that’s not on the team for the next eight years isn’t exactly ideal. Also, because of the structure of Redden’s contract, that $2 million becomes $3.4 million for two seasons.

From a business standpoint and from a hockey operations standpoint, buying out Redden simply does not work because it is just too expensive. The only option that makes sense from a hockey operations sense is to demote Redden, but that is unlikely to happen due to varying reasons, especially when there may have been pressure to play him. The Rangers desperately need salary cap space, but it looks like it may have to come from another method.

Rangers and Hartford to End Affiliation?

The Hartford Wolfpack may no longer be the Rangers AHL affiliate come 2011-2012. According to the Biz of Hockey, the Rangers are unhappy with their relationship with the Wolfpack, and will be looking to transfer their affiliation to the Rochester Americans, who end their affiliation with the Panthers after the end of the 2010-2011 season.

Hartford has been the home of the Rangers AHL affiliation since its move from Binghamton in 1997. In the 13 seasons since the move, the Wolfpack have been fairly successful, winning three division championships, a regular season championship, a conference championship, and a Calder Cup. This past season was the first time in 13 years that the Wolfpack failed to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

In addition to interest from the Rochester Americans, there is also interest from numerous AHL clubs in the Upstate New York area. The Albany River Rats, who just lost their team to relocation to Charlotte, are another possibility. Albany is about half the distance to Manhattan from Rochester, and no longer has an AHL affiliate. Either way, it looks like the Rangers and Hartford will be severing ties soon.

What To Do With Aaron Voros

With the acquisitions of Brandon Prust and Jody Shelley, and the likelihood that at least one will be resigned, it appears that Aaron Voros may have run his course on Broadway. The majority will remember “The People’s Champ” for his $1 million salary for a fringe player, but some will remember that he always gave 100% when he played. Giving it your all every game is something that we as fans expect, but rarely see from a good portion of the Rangers.

Management’s options for Voros are a lot more abundant than their options with some of the high priced veterans. Voros has one year at $900k left on his contract ($1 million cap hit). Teams operating with an ownership cap might find the slight discount to be appealing. It is possible that a team would trade a lower pick (something to the equivalent of what the Rangers gave for Shelley) for Voros’ services. He is a short term commitment, which is something a lot of teams are looking for.

The Rangers also seem to have no problem waiving the winger, as he has been waived at the trade deadline each of the past two years to make room for any potential deals that might come their way. Waiving Voros and putting him in the minors seems to be an option that ownership is willing to accept as well.

Then there’s the curious case of buying him out. Voros has one year at $900k remaining. Voros’ buyout cap hit would be $400k for the 2010-2011 season and $300k for the 2011-2012 (for an explanation of how this is calculated, view the Understanding the Cap page).

The buyout amount is actually a little steep considering they can just keep him for next season and then have the cap hit eliminated for good. The most beneficial move for the Rangers to make would be to trade Voros and try to recoup that late pick they gave up for Jody Shelley. With the Rangers in a bad salary cap situation, Voros may be one of the first cap casualties of the 2010 offseason.