The Rangers have signed pending RFA Urho Vaakanainen to a two-year extension worth $1.55 million per season.
Vaakanainen, 26, was acquired from Anaheim along with a fourth round pick for Jacob Trouba.
Since coming to the Rangers, Vaakanainen has two goals and seven assists in 30 games. He’s averaging 15:59 per game and has 26 blocked shots and 14 hits.
Adam Rotter: It’s an easy decision to extend Vaakanainen. It’s a cheap deal that could be buried in Hartford if need be and continues to give the Rangers more cost certainty and one less thing to do in the offseason. That cost certainty is important because it will allow for better planning for the offseason.
Vaakanainen is a depth player, a third-pairing guy and I think he’s been fine since being acquired. Chris Drury has remade the Rangers defense this season by bringing in Vaakanainen, Will Borgen and yesterday’s move for Carson Soucy. There is still the question of K’Andre Miller’s extension and just because they have extended Vaakanainen doesn’t mean that they still aren’t going to go for a bigger/better left D or potentially another right-shot D if they attempt to try Braden Schneider on the left side. Vaakanainen could easily be the seventh defenseman if the Rangers were to bring in another left-shot defender this offseason.