Larry Brooks reports that Kevin Klein, who was an integral piece of the Rangers’ run to the 2014 Stanley Cup final and the club’s 2014-15 Presidents’ Trophy season before breaking down last year, is contemplating retirement from the NHL.
Sources report Klein, who was a healthy scratch for all but one playoff game following a regular season in which persistent lower back issues limited him to 60 games, is leaning toward leaving the NHL and continuing his career in Europe.Individuals with knowledge of the situation stressed that a final decision has not been made even as the 32-year-old righty defenseman held a going-away party over the weekend.
Klein, who has been working out at the Blueshirts’ practice facility, has one year at $2.75 million remaining on his contract with an accompanying $2.9 million cap hit. If he does indeed retire from the NHL, the Rangers would thus gain an additional $2.9 million of 2017-18 space.
Klein was a very underrated acquisition by then GM Glen Sather, coming over from Nashville on January 22, 2014 for Michael Del Zotto. Before coming to NY, Klein was known as a throwback, stay-at-home, physical defender. After arriving in NY, Klein provided a lot more offense, especially timely goals, than was first expected, finishing with 22 of his 38 career goals as a Ranger. Klein was brilliant in the run to the SCF that year, pairing either with Marc Staal or Keith Yandle and showing he was a solid, second pair d-man.
In 2014-15, Klein had a dominant first half of the season but really struggled after returning from a broken arm. Those struggles made him a question heading into 2015-16. For the year, I gave him a C+ grade and this was what I wrote then:
The first three months of the season, Klein might have been the team's best defenseman. Then, as his responsibility grew and need for him to help carry the blue line, his play flatlined and regressed. Late in the season, Klein was more of a liability than an asset, showing that he is best served on the second pairing and not the first. At $2.9 million with two years left, Klein likely has a lot of value on the open market. His status may also depend on what happens with the rest of the blue line. If room can be created by moving another d-man or Rick Nash, then Klein likely returns, if not, then he could go in a deal as a sweetener to move a contract.if this rating had been given at the three-quarter pole of the season, Klein probably would have gotten a B+. If the rating was based solely on the last-quarter of the season, it might have been a D, reflecting just how poorly he played. What we did learn is that Klein is a good second pair defenseman but he is ill-suited to step up and consistently play on the top-two. He can make that transition periodically but his weaknesses get exposed when he is forced into that role too often.
This year, the wheels totally fell off, partially due to the injury. But his struggles were much broader than that. Klein was operating on borrowed time, as a buyout was a possibility. If not, a deal, if possible, or semi-permanent place in the press box loomed. Playing in Europe will reduce the wear-and-tear his body would take due to fewer games played and less of a focus on physical play in those leagues. Whatever Klein decides, I hope he is healthy, and for New York, having $2.9 million additional cap room would be huge to help possibly sign Kevin Shattenkirk and/or Brendan Smith. If only one is signed, that also possibly opens up the door for one of Neal Pionk, Alexei Bereglazov, Sergei Zborovskiy, Vince Pedrie, Ryan Graves, John Gilmour and as an outside possibility, Sean Day, to make the team out of training camp.