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My take on the Cody McLeod signing & Gorton’s failure to take on cap space

July 12, 2018, 8:03 PM ET [376 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers really laid low the first week plus of free agency. New York’s only moves were to re-sign Vladislav Namestnikov to a two-year deal worth $4 million per season and add Frederik Claesson for $700k for 2018-19. With several big names off the board as well as smaller ones that might have been a fit on this team, the Blueshirts for some reason opted to bring back Cody McLeod on a one-year, $750k deal.

After the season, GM Jeff Gorton said that he felt that the Rangers lacked a certain amount of toughness. When David Quinn was introduced, Gorton did speak about making sure the young kids weren’t pushed around and that some kind of presence existed to protect those assets. Matt Beleskey could have played that role while also fitting in on the fourth line. Others still available in free agency such as Michael Latta or Derek Grant also were possible fits. Instead, they are back to Tanner Glass 2.0.

At 750k, the salary isn’t an issue, especially since he could be buried in the minors and New York has the cap room. But why bring back a player that’s clearly not a fit for how Quinn wants to play and per the advanced metrics, as big of a drain as you can get (see below). Plus, if this is a GM Jeff Gorton move, that sends a bad message as to how the future will play out either on the parent club or in Hartford.







Now maybe McLeod will only play against teams with extremely physical fourth lines, like the Islanders, or one with a tendency towards dirty play. Even in that case, are ‘enforcers’ even deterrents? From what we have seen in the recent past, look at what happened to Marc Savard and other incidents, the deterrent factor is overrated. Hearken back to last year with Tom Wilson. He went over the line a ton, yet unsure that really proved a deterrent to hits on Kuznetsov and others. The difference is Wilson could play on the top line due to his domination of skill and power, allowing him to carve out space and protect his teammate to a certain extent. McLeod is diametrically opposed skill wise to Wilson.

If McLeod takes up a active roster spot from one of the prospects, who needs the ice time to further his development, then this move looks even worse. The same can be said even if he sent down to Hartford. Obviously, the hope has to be he will spotted in sporadically at best. But even so, I still question the signing.

The other big news today was the Chicago-Arizona trade.


Once again, the Coyotes took on salary - which in this case was offset a bit by including Markus Kruger, who is at 2.775 million for this year and then a UFA compared to Marian Hossa at 5.25 million the next three seasons and the cap hit locked in due to the when the contract was signed, back to the Blackhawks- to acquire an asset. In the past, it was Chris Pronger, Pavel Datsyuk and David Bolland that the Coyotes took on board. Now, it’s Hossa (more on the impact below), who is the next to join Arizona for a future asset; in this case, mainly Hinostroza.



Chicago is now already rumored to be in discussions to acquire either Max Pacioretty or Jeff Skinner with the additional cap room created. Heading into the offseason, with all the cap room for New York, deals like this is what I hoped the Rangers would make. Gorton indicates after the year that the team would be willing to make trades such as this. To date, none have transpired. That’s a waste of available cap space. Now maybe they make a deal such as this at the trade deadline. But the question has to be asked as to why Gorton is unable or refuses to engage in taking advantage of the cap space created with all the deals last year and decision to lay low on free agency. Even if you factor in re-signing the RFAs, about $10 million in space should remain unutilized and available, yet Gorton idly sits by twiddling his thumbs. The rumored Erik Karlsson to Tampa trade with the Rangers as the third party only makes sense because New York has the cap room to participate in the transaction and obtain a future asset. If that opportunity goes by the wayside, the grade for the off-season takes a hit.

Tomorrow, my hope is to blog on the upcoming potential arbitration hearings for Kevin Hayes, Ryan Spooner, Jimmy Vesey and Brady SkjeI. Clearly, the first question is will anyone of the four go to arbitration. Then, what type of deal is signed for each, presuming that occurs and one isn’t dealt, meaning one-to-two year contract or longer term.

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