Mika Zibanejad’s eight-year extension worth $8.5 million per season begins with the 2022-23 season.
The Rangers already have Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Barclay Goodrow, Filip Chytil, Ryan Reaves, Alexis Lafreniere, Morgan Barron, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren, Patrik Nemeth, K’Andre Miller, Nils Lundkvist, Jarred Tinordi and Igor Shesterkin under contract for next season for a total of $58.8 million.
With those players under contract and the salary cap staying at $81.5 million, the Rangers would have $19.2 million in cap space.
Players not under contract for next season include UFA Ryan Strome and RFAs Adam Fox, Sammy Blias, Vitali Kravtsov and Kaapo Kakko.
Adam Rotter: A lot will happen between now and the end of this season when that $19.2 million in cap space will come into play.
The top priority is getting Adam Fox under contract for eight-seasons and the only question with that will be how high his cap hit is. Cale Makar’s six-year deal has a cap hit of $9 million per season and is probably some sort of model for what Fox’s will be.
Hopefully Kaapo Kakko takes the step he is showing he can take and the Rangers can get him on a long-term deal,
Then there is what to do with Ryan Strome. Strome, Tomas Hertl and Vincent Trocheck currently project to be the best under-30 UFA centers and that could mean six-year deals at more than $6 million per season. Strome’s situation is now the one to watch for this season. Filip Chytil’s play will also impact this situation.
The other aspect of Zibanejad’s extension is that it now makes it very unlikely, though not impossible, that the Rangers trade for Jack Eichel. That means that the Rangers have kept their number one center, added him for less money than Eichel and still retain all of their prospects and young players. That means that even if the Rangers do lose Ryan Strome as a UFA, or potentially to a trade at some point to avoid losing him for nothing, they still have all of their pieces to then go out and trade for another center. Again, Filip Chytil may ultimately be Strome’s replacement, but if he isn’t or a decision is made that he is better on the wing, the Rangers still have the pieces to go after someone else.