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Recent Rangers RFA signings, are Blueshirts a bottom-five team?

July 15, 2018, 7:48 PM ET [164 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As we wait for the Rangers' restricted free agents to either sign deals or go to arbitration, several of those free agents with no arbitration rights signed deals with New York. The lack of arb rights left the players with two choices, take the qualifying offer, or hold out for a better deal, which likely would not have occurred. Falling into this classification and signing were Steven Fogarty, who technically signed a two-way contract early in free agency for $708,500 in the NHL and 70k if he is in the minors, Boo Nieves and Rob O'Gara, the latter two signing Thursday and Friday. Still unsigned are John Gilmour, who could play a material role for the parent club or draw interest in the market place, and Chris Bigras, who came over from Colorado for Ryan Graves at the trade deadline earlier this year. Both players, along with the big four RFAs, received qualifying offers back in June, meaning new York is given the right of first refusal or draft choice compensation should the player sign an offer sheet with another team.

Nieves:



Nieves played in 28 games in New York, tallying nine points, and 40 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack, notching 21 points. Drafted in the second round, 59th overall in 2012, Nieves saw one game of action in 2016-17 before having a mild breakthrough last season. Nieves could be the team's fourth line center, though he needs to work on his consistency in terms of work ethic, which has been questioned in the past.

The signing of Cody McLeod adds another possible body to the fourth line mix. When you also factor in the presence of Filip Chytil, Lias Andersson, Peter Holland, Vinni Lettieri, Matt Beleskey Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist and Brett Howden not to mention Jimmy Vesey and Jesper Fast, competition for Nieves to earn a roster spot is high. Nieves will in all likelihood bounce up-and-down between Hartford and New York, but see substantial ice time and play a key role while a member of the Wolfpack. Nieves benefits from a new coaching staff, as he will get a fresh start on proving he could break camp with the parent club.

O'Gara:



O'Gara came to New York in deal for Nick Holden. His lack of foot speed was apparent, but he did settle in as he saw more ice time. Defensive mistakes unfortunately were all too common for O'Gara, who I would love to see be more physical when on the ice. Maybe he was trying to prove he can skate at this level and/or was told to tone down his style of play on the ice.

Because New York was in essence tryout mode down the stretch, O'Gara averaged 17:10 of ice time in the 22 games he played. Like Nieves, he could get caught in a numbers game. Kevin Shattenkrik, Brady Skjei, Neal Pionk, Marc Staal, Brendan Smith, Fredrik Claesson and Tony DeAngelo are the main names on the blue line for roster spots. They will be joined in training camp by Sean Day, Libor Hajek, Ryan Lindgren and Steven Kampfer, making O'Gara's chances of breaking camp that much more difficult. Look for O'Gara to probably start the season at Hartford, unless he shows a physical presence and improved play in his own zone,

Sean Tierney tweeted this:



First, Pionk is missing from the list, I expect the KZB line to break camp, Hayes is not likely the third center and Vladislav Namestnikov won't be a fourth line center. Notwithstanding the tweaks as well as others you might think in terms of forward trios and d-pairings, what's your view on his take that new York is a bottom-five team? While the team is clearly rebuilding, and you can define it any way you want, though as Joe Fortunato wrote in his blog today, the team is not tanking, is the squad really that bad?

I would say maybe bottom 10 but have others who have struggled in the past surpassed the Rangers? In the East, are the Islanders, Devils, Senators, Canadiens, Red Wings and Sabres better than New York? Out West, can the same be said for Vancouver, Arizona and Chicago? That's eight teams besides New York, with 31 teams in the league, if more than four of the line finish with similar or worse marks than the Rangers, then the team isn't a bottom-five squad.

In addition, does the presence of a halfway decent blue line - not great by any stretch, but a healthy Shattenkirk and even mild return to form by Smith makes them better than last season - plus Henrik Lundqvist should make the team at least competitive in games. Add in more depth up front, maybe not elite but a KZB first line with let's say Spooner-Hayes-Zuccarello isn't an embarrassing top-six. It's not at the level of the top end squads, but also not one where it's bereft on any talent. Options exist for the third and fourth line including Namestnikov, Fast, Vesey, Chyti and Andersson to name a few. If going full tank, Zucc would be gone already, Namestnikov traded elsewhere and the lineup would be littered with rookies. That still might be the case, but not necessarily to tank but for the kids to gain experience.

I ask you, as of July 15 where do you think New York finishes?

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