The Rangers have around $13 million in cap space as free agency opens at Noon.
The Rangers have K’Andre Miller and Will Cuylle as RFAs.
The Rangers have the following UFAs: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Alex Belzile, Calvin de Haan, Louis Domingue, Ben Harpur, Riley Nash, Chad Ruhwedel, Bo Groulx, Lucas Edmonds, Zac Jones, Arthur Kaliyev, Jake Leschyshyn.
Emily Kaplan tweeted that she doesn’t expect “issues” with an extension for Cuylle and that the Rangers have “not gotten the offers” they want for Miller.
She said that the Rangers may look to add forwards “cautiously.”
LA defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov is believed to be the Rangers top target in free agency. Ivan Provorov, who was one of the top pending UFA defensemen re-signed with Columbus for seven-years and $8.5 million per season.
Elliotte Friedman wrote that Gavrikov and LA “went down to the wire” and that it’s now expected he will sign with the Rangers. (Sportsnet)
Adam Rotter: The focus has been and is expected to be Gavrikov, but as the top defenseman on the market it’s expected he will be drawing a lot of interest. It’s been believed that there is mutual interest and that if he were going to leave LA that one of the only teams he was interested in was the Rangers. But they won’t get a discount and it could now be north of $8 million for Gavrikov after what Provorov signed for. He is likely worth it for the stabilizing presence he should be next to Adam Fox and all the minutes they will eat, but the more they give to Provorov the less they have for any other moves.
While a lot of the focus has been on defense, mostly on Gavrikov, the Rangers also need a third line center, if Mika Zibanejad is to play RW, and there aren’t a ton of options there either.
We could get a resolution on the K’Andre Miller situation. If they get Gavrikov then they will either have to move Miller or wait for an offer sheet. If they don’t get Gavrikov then there would seem to be a better chance that Miller comes back. Brian Dumoulin has a long history with Mike Sullivan and could easily be an addition either as a second pair guy depending on what else happens and all the cap gymnastics needed.
It’s possible that the Rangers aren’t able to make as many changes as they hoped but we’ll see how creative Chris Drury can be.