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Mika Zibanejad and the Rangers exchange arbitration figures, now what?

July 24, 2017, 9:24 AM ET [377 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers and Mika Zibanejad each submitted contract figures in advance of Tuesday's schedule arbitration hearing. Per Elliotte Friedman, Zibanejad ask was $5.35M, the Rangers offer was: $4.1M. The gap is much narrower than I expected and clear leaves room for negotiation, both on a one-year or longer deal.

Since Zibanejad elected arbitration, the Rangers get to determine the number of years, one or two, in the deal. As we have discussed before, New York will go with one year - if each side actually makes it to arbitration - keeping Zibanejad as a RFA in 2018-19 as well. The results of my poll as to how much the Rangers should offer Zib for one-year had 82% of the 798 responses saying at least $4 mil with a very slight edge to $4.5 mil as the salary. Zib had an AAV of $2.625 mil the past two seasons, but a salary of $3.25 million last year with a minimum arb figure of $3.35 mil, so $4.1 was a reasonable uplift by New York.

The variance between the two sides is closer than I expected. Last season, Chris Kreider had asked for $4.75 mil on a one-year deal while New York had offered $3.2 million. In addition, the Rangers had offered Kreider $4.75 mil on a 4-5 deal, while Kreider reportedly asked for $5.25 mil per season. The two sides met somewhere in the middle with a four-year deal for $4.625 mil per season with the accord occurring just before the hearing.

New York hasn't gone to arbitration since walking away from the Nikola Zherdev $3.9 million award in August 2009. Given how close the two sides are, I would expect a one-year deal somewhat splitting the $1.25 mil difference. Where it gets dicier is on a longer-term deal. Zib likely prefers shorter-term, like three years, allowing him to be a UFA as soon as possible, or longer-term, but at a higher $ figure, as that buys out more arbitration years. If New York really believed in Zib and wanted to make sure he remains a Ranger for many years and minimized the downside risk, offer 7-8 years at a slightly lower AAV, sort of like what Nashville did with Viktor Arvidsson.

In my second poll, how many years and for how much should the Rangers sign Zib, there was 622 votes. Only 68 of the 622 said three years, likely due to that length of a deal favoring Zib. Four years was the option for 206 votes, with 51 selecting $5 mil as their choice. The overwhelming winner was five years, capturing 358 of the votes, of which 103 or 17% of the overall total selection, $5 mil as the salary. As I have said, five years at $5.5 million is my choice, which benefits both sides, and is in line with some other recent signings, including Tomas Tatar and Ondrej Palat.
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