9:45AM: The Rangers and Brendan Lemieux have avoided today’s arbitration hearing and come to terms on a two-year deal with a cap hit of $1.55 million. (Cap Friendly)
He will have a salary of $1.45 million in 2020-21 and $1.64 million for 2021-22.
Lemieux has 9 goals and 15 assists in 78 games since coming over from Winnipeg at the 2019 trade deadline.
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He played this past season on a one-year deal worth $925,000.
On Wednesday the two sides submitted the following salary briefs to the arbitrator:
- Rangers: Two-Years at $950,000 and then $1.075 million (Cap hit of $1.025 million)
The Rangers have not gone through with an arbitration hearing since Nikolai Zherdev in 2009.
Adam Rotter: Another deal that makes sense for both sides and, in essence, finishes up the Rangers offseason. A two-year deal gives the Rangers some more time to determine whether or where Lemieux fits going forward and to do so at a small cap charge. He is a bottom-six forward but brings a style of play, physicality and agitation that the Rangers have in short supply. As the Rangers talk about wanting to be a team that is harder to play against, Lemieux can have a big role in that. Lemieux does have a history, including what caused him to miss the first-two games against Carolina, of crossing the line toward supplemental discipline, but if he can walk that line without crossing over, he can be a big part of the Rangers going forward.