12:44 PM: Drouin is returning to Colorado on a one-year deal. (McKenzine)
12PM: Marchessault is 5x$5.5 million to Nashville.
11:45 AM: The Rangers are reported to be one of a few teams interested in Jonathan Drouin. (Dreger)
11:41AM: Stamkos is expected to sign four-years at around $8 million per season. (TSN).
Tyler Toffoli is expected to sign with San Jose. (Kevin Weekes)
4 Years at 6 million for Toffoli. (TSN)
11:22 AM: Teravainen is expected to sign with Chicago. (Johnston) It’s supposed to be three-years at over $5 million per season.
9:04 AM: Elliotte Friedman speculates that Teravainen could go to the Rangers or Chicago. Chicago is planning to sign Tyler Bertuzzi to a four-year deal.
8:25 AM: Darren Dreger says that it’s “status quo” for the Rangers and Trouba and that he has submitted his 15-team no-trade list.
7:39AM: Free Agency opens today at 12PM and the Rangers are expected to have $13.6 million in cap space.
Blake Wheeler, Alex Wennberg, Jack Roslovic, Erik Gustafsson and Chad Ruhwedel are expected to become Free Agents today.
The Rangers are believed to be considering a trade of Jacob Trouba once his no-move clause turns to a no-trade clause when Free Agency opens.
Patrick Kane is remaining in Detroit and Tampa Bay, after acquiring his rights, is expected to sign Jake Guentzel to a seven-year deal.
11:46 AM: Officially, the Rangers free agents are:
- Qualified RFAs: Karl Henriksson, Ryan Lindgren, Matthew Robertson, Braden Schneider.
- UFAs: Nikolas Brouillard, Erik Gustafsson, Nic Petan, Tyler Pitlick, Jack Roslovic, Chad Ruhwedel, Alexander Wennberg, Blake Wheeler, Mac Hollowell.
- Not Qualified and now Free Agents: Olof Lindbom, Bobby Trivigno
Adam Rotter: The Jacob Trouba situation has jumped to the forefront of the Rangers plans today. Will they move him and clear at least $4 million in cap space and his roster spot, will they commit him to staying or will this be an ongoing saga? My guess is that Trouba gets dealt. I don’t think it’s a situation where Trouba couldn’t come back, I just think that the Rangers want the cap space.
Some of that cap space will go towards signing/acquiring Trouba’s replacement and some, eventually, will go towards Braden Schneider and Ryan Lindgren’s new contracts, the bulk of the cap space will likely be focused on adding another scorer to the top-six. Patrick Kane seemed like a great fit, especially if he was interested in a one-year deal, but he’s staying in Detroit. Jake Guentzel always seemed like a pipedream and same with Sam Reinhart. So who does that leave? Steven Stamkos would check a lot of the boxes that Kane would have, but the expectation is that he will command a long-term deal.
Jonathan Marchessault, Tyler Toffoli, Teuvo Teräväinen and Jake Debrusk. are some options. The Rangers were reportedly interested in Toffoli when the Devils traded him this past season. Instead of reuniting with Patrick Kane the Ranger could try reuniting with Vladimir Tarasenko. David Perron is a veteran and Stanley Cup winner.
Jeff Skinner had 24-goals last season and over 30 the prior two years and Buffalo bought him out. He could be an option. Anthony Mantha hasn’t lived up to expectations over the last few seasons and he and Peter Laviolette didn’t seem to get along in Washington.
The question is going to be whether the Rangers are actually willing to offer more than one-year deals. With new contracts needed next summer for Igor Shesterkin, K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere flexibility past this season is needed.
Then there is Kaapo Kakko and his future is still up in the air.
9:05 AM: Adam Rotter: Teravainen would make sense and has been someone I’ve been thinking about a bit since Kane and Guentzel went off the market. The Rangers would know him well from playing against him a lot in Carolina and, outside of this season where his goals (25) and assists (28) were close, he’s historically been much more of a playmaker with 304 career assists compared to 155 goals. He’s not big or physical, but would probably be the closest thing that Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad have had to Mats Zuccarello since Zuccarello was traded. He has 23 goals and 27 assists in 90 career playoff games and did play 18 games for Chicago in 2015 when they won the Stanley Cup.