Larry Brooks laid out in stark detail the other day the Rangers short- and long-term cap woes. The longer term woes will be a blog or a series of blogs for another day, because the decision making process involves multiple players. What is determined for one, to use an Ek temper, has a domino impact, given the interaction and interrelationship from one teammate to another.
For example, if New York decides to move on from Mats Zuccarello, does that mean Marc Staal is more in play? What the team would offer to Derek Stepan, could require not retaining or attempting to retain Zucc and/or Staal. If Carl Hagelin costs more than expected, does that end up paving the way for one or two of the aforementioned players to move elsewhere? What happens if the cap doesn't rise at all - as Larry Brooks said a few weeks ago might not happen - or less than expected, impacted by the U.S.-CDN exchange rate? New York is hopeful that Martin St. Louis will be amenable to signing a one-year, over-35 bonus-laded contract, but if not, as much as he says he wants to stay, would MSL go elsewhere (there are two other teams in NY)? If some of these decisions are made shortly after the All-Star Game, can we expect to see at least one or several deals to occur moving on from those who might not be back. These and other questions will be covered down the road, but the short-term crunch is the key for here and now,
Brooks wrote:
Down Tanner Glass due to the mumps and Dan Boyle to what's believed to be the flu, the Blueshirts are carrying the league maximum 23-man roster through these five days off between Monday’s Garden defeat to the Lightning and Saturday’s match in Detroit. This includes seven defensemen (six healthy) and 14 forwards (13 healthy).This glut, combined with the previous use of long-term exemptions on both Stepan and Boyle, has created a situation in which the Rangers currently have just over $65,500 in available cap space, according to calculations by both The Post and capgeek.com.
More importantly, however, the string of injuries and illnesses has created the scenario under which the Rangers are projected to have a mere $211,650 available at the trade deadline. This doesn’t exactly leave much in the way of maneuverability for general manager Glen Sather, who essentially will have to to go dollar-for-dollar to improve his team.
If, as expected, the Rangers loan Anthony Duclair to Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Tournament, the freshman pro’s $772,500 cap hit would be erased from the books on a pro-rated basis for the 18 days (Dec. 19 through Jan. 5) he’d be off the NHL roster. But that would provide only about $75,000 of relief.
Paints a pretty picture, no? Plus, you wonder where NY would have been if they did put Ryan McDonagh, who was out November 2 to November 28 with his separated shoulder, on LTIR. Part of this issue comes from signing Glass to a ridiculous deal. At best, he should have gotten $900k, which would have allowed the a Rangers to send him down with no cap impact. Because he is making more that that, even if NY did send him down, the $550k difference between what he got and that 900k stays on the cap, reducing their available space, which hamstrings the team.
In the real short-term, Boyle is expected back soon, possibly as soon as the Saturday game against Detroit, so they won't have to dip into the minors to bring up a replacement. But, the ability to really improve the team with a pre-deadline deal may almost be an impossibility, due to minimal cap space available. To improve, as Brooks wrote, it would need to be dollar-for-dollar, precluding a big time impact, unless for example Staal is moved. But that might rob Peter to pay Paul, weakening the blue line to improve the front line, though the Rangers could opt to get more of a physical or offensive defenseman to replace Staal. However, before you start figuring out all the possible returns for Staal, hold your horses, as that type of deal is unlikely to happen now and might not take place at all.
Basically what we see may be what you get, now and in the future. The hope will have to be that the young players, such as Miller and Fast, continue to develop. The medium term vets, like Zucc and Kreider, play as was expected when the season started. The overall team gets healthy, creating some continuity and consistency, while Lundqvist reverts to his prior form. If any or all of the above prove not to be the case, as spelled out above, changing up the mix looks to be difficult, not impossible, but one whereby familiar faces may need to go.