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Rangers and Kreider Agree on Four-Year Deal with $4.625 Mil AAV

July 22, 2016, 10:01 AM ET [432 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Per Aaron Ward, the Rangers and Chris Kreider reached an agreement at about 9:30 this morning of a four-year deal with a $4.625 million AAV, avoiding arbitration. Per Ward, the contract has an 11-team no trade clause in last two years. Kreider receives a $1 mil signing bonus each of the first three years and will be paid $5M, $5M, $4.5M and $4M over the four years.

Kreider had asked for $4.75 mil on a one-year deal while New York had offered $3.2 million. Larry Brooks had reported the other day the Rangers had offered Kreider $4.75 mil on a 4-5 deal, while Kreider reportedly asked for $5.25 mil per season. What we get is a compromise on all sides, which is the mark of a good negotiation. Two years ago, the Rangers and Kreider settled on a two-year deal an hour before arbitration worth $2.35 million in year one and $2.60 million in year two for an average AAV of $2.475 mil. Like then, an agreement was reached just before the hearing.

New York secures Kreider for two years of what would have been unrestricted free agency. Kreider gets the security of a slightly long term deal but will be a UFA after the 2019-20 season when he will be 29 years old and in line for another long term contract. In addition, for those who love to speculate, signing Kreider to this type of deal and for that dollar amount does make him very tradable if New York wanted to move him for let's say a D-man in St. Louis or Colorado.

The Rangers still have not had a player go through an arbitration hearing since Nikolay Zherdev in 2009, when the Rangers walked away from his $3.9 million judgement, making him an unrestricted free agent. Signing Kreider gives New York about $6 mil left in cap room. Next up to be signed is Kevin Hayes, whose hearing is set for July 27. But conversations on him are for another day, as right now, CK20 is back in the fold for four years.

I quote again what I wrote the other day:

My blog two weeks ago highlighted what I thought a decent deal for each might be. The Vincent Trochek, Reilly Smith and Victor Rask signings all are decent comps for Kreider, though many Rangers' fans believe that Kreider is better than Rask. Trochek, more so, Smith, less so, is better than Kreider, so a deal in the $4-$4.5 mil range for Kreider may prove decent value.

Another recent applicable signing is Jaden Schwartz, who inked a five year, $26.35 mil deal last Friday. I think Schwartz is a better scorer than Kreider, who does have better advanced metrics than Schwartz. Over the weekend Alex Killlorn, also slated for arb, signed a seven-year deal with a $4.45 mil AAV. Kreider in my view is better than Killorn, who like Kreider, has produced come playoff time. An additional decent comp for Kreider may be Marcus Johansson, who was awarded 1 yr @ $3.75M contract last year in arbitration and was to go through the process again this season. Johansson and the Capitals reached an agreement on a three year deal with a $4.583 mil AAV.

Here was my predictions for Kreider's deal. I came fairly close on the low end:

Kreider, 25, despite a slow start, matched his career high of 21 goals and added 22 assists in 79 games as he completed a two-year, $4.95 million deal. That deal was signed just before arbitration. If Kreider gets a one-year deal, he should go from $2.475 mil to around $3.5-4 mil. For two years, up that amount slightly to closer to $4-$4.25 mil. If New York opted for a 4-5 year deal, the look for a cap hit of around $4.75-$5.25 million.
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