Larry Brooks postulates in today's NY Post that the Rangers are seeking to deal Tony DeAngelo, rather than sign him to a multi-year deal, due to the need to free up blueline space for Nils Lundkvist when he is ready to join the team rather than possibly lose him to free agency on June 2, 2022. Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox are locked in on the right side, leaving one spot open. That position is currently being filled by ADA but Lundqvist looks to be next in line.
Here is another reason, perhaps the most significant one, that the Rangers won’t be signing impending restricted free agent Tony DeAngelo to a multi-year contract and instead are seeking to trade the 24-year-old righty defenseman:
That is because a contract of longer than one year for DeAngelo would all but ensure losing 20-year-old righty defenseman Nils Lundkvist to unrestricted free agency on June 2, 2022, without ever getting the Swede to Broadway.
Teams hold exclusive rights to European-born draft picks through the fourth June 1 following their selection, per the CBA. Lundkvist was selected 28th overall in 2018 with the first-rounder obtained from Tampa Bay in the package for Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller. So, the Rangers hold his rights through June 1, 2022.
What do you think the odds would be of the highly regarded Swede signing in New York next summer, or the summer after that, knowing the Blueshirts have Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox and DeAngelo lined up long term on the right side of the blue line with free agency and a clearer path elsewhere to the NHL available on the open market?
Bringing in Lundqvist continues the flow of prospects and his ELC - aka cheap contract - counterbalances the pricey ones already in place and those that will come over the next few seasons. But why not just move ADA to his off-side, where he had played in the past? Per Brooks, there seems no inclination to move DeAngelo to the left, where the Rangers do have an abundance of prospects beginning with K’Andre Miller, who has spent the summer in Connecticut training with the renowned Ben Prentiss.
Miller needs minor-league seasoning. He is still learning how to play defense and rushing him makes little sense. Even though he made a strong impression in summer camp before the play-in round, that's not true game action. Miller didn't have the greatest of years at Wisconsin and giving him time to smooth out the rough edges and improve positionally at Hartford is the way to go. This should mean that Miller spends a few months there learning and is maybe up for the second half of the season, Regardless of when he is promoted, throwing him on the top pair would be foolish. That's why trying ADA next to Trouba appears to make a lot of sense.
In a cap league, Brooks is correct that a team can't pay a third-pair defenseman the $5.5-to-$6 million to which DeAngelo would likely be entitled on a long-term deal. Of course, that presumes ADA will be on the third line, which I don't think will be the case initially. In addition, the feasibility exists that he is signed to that type of contract and dealt a year or two in. You could argue his value is at his highest, though what that value is remains unclear. New York, if they do deal DeAngelo, has a target position in mind.
The hierarchy will seek/is seeking to use DeAngelo in order to address a long-term solution to their second center spot. It is not as if the Rangers would be unable to live next season with Ryan Strome doing a reprise of his role, but the impending restricted free agent center with arbitration rights is just a year away from being eligible to hit the open market. A long-term arrangement is not likely. Hence, the Rangers are open for business.
Who that 2C will be and what type of center added is to be determined. I do agree with Brooks that management needs to identify the type of second-line center they’re seeking. Are they in the market for another high-end skill guy to fit among a passel of top-six options on the wing? Or are they seeking a sturdier, physically imposing, two-way center in the mold of a Jordan Staal? This year’s postseason tournament has only reinforced the fact that you can’t prance down the yellow brick road and expect to make it all the way to Oz. And, because of future considerations regarding the pending negotiations with Mika Zibanejad next offseason in advance of potential 2022 free agency, the Blueshirts will need to acquire a center who is either on his entry-level deal or early on a controllable second deal?
When you put it like that, it should be easy peasy to make a deal, not. Teams are not just giving away young, controllable, cheap possible 2c centers. You could argue NY might have one of those already in Filip Chytil. If going to make a deal, patience is paramount. Signing ADA to a one-year deal, especially if a trade partner doesn't materialize, is the way to go. Trying him on his off-side to see if he and Trouba might be a fit would be another option. But as we know MSG is not adverse to floating out trade balloons or leaking info to see reaction, which also could be the case here. If only a two-year deal had been signed last off-season....
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