Drury Has the Last Word with Trouba

What do Patrik Nemeth, Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba have in common? All three were signed to contracts that turned out to be richer than the Rangers could afford, and all three were moved off the roster by Chris Drury without incurring so much as a nickel's worth of salary retention. 

Nemeth was sent packing to the Arizona Coyotes, along with a couple of draft picks, for Ty Emberson in the summer of 2022; Goodrow was waived and later claimed by the San Jose Sharks this past summer; and, yesterday, Trouba was "traded" to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional draft pick. I put the word traded in quotation marks because it was widely reported, and later confirmed by Trouba himself, that had he not accepted the trade, Drury was prepared to waive him just like he did with Goodrow over the summer.

Know this about Drury: whether you think he's been a good general manager or not, when he realizes a mistake has been made, he's not one to stand on ceremony. It takes a certain amount of talent to completely erase a mistake; one his predecessor Jeff Gorton, unfortunately, did not possess. 

Of all the mistakes this organization has made over the last few years, Trouba was, by far, the worst. Since his arrival from the Winnipeg Jets in 2021, he was, at best, an above average defenseman with a penchant for throwing bone-jarring checks that often knocked opponents out of the game; at worst, he was a defensive liability, whose mistakes proved costly to his team. The most egregious of those mistakes came against the Florida Panthers in game six of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. Trouba attempted to throw one of his patented checks on Evan Rodrigues late in the first period, and when he missed, Rodrigues set up Sam Bennett for a goal to give the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish. Game, set and match for the Blueshirts.

Bottom line: at $4 million, Trouba was overpriced; at $8 million, he was an albatross around the neck of the cap-strapped Rangers. And with several players due to hit free agency next year, Drury needed to clear cap space fast.

He tried trading Trouba. The Detroit Red Wings expressed interest in acquiring him last summer, but before Drury could pull the trigger, he needed to know whether Detroit was on Trouba's 15 team no trade list. So he asked Trouba's agent and, well, you know the rest. Captain Elbow threw a hissy fit and that was that.

As it turns out, Steve Yzermann couldn't take on Trouba's contract because he wasn't able to clear enough cap space on his own to make it work, which was just as well because the deal the two men had in place called for the Rangers to retain $2.5 million of Trouba's salary. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. Five months later, Drury was able to unload Trouba's entire contract and he actually got something in return besides $8 million of cap space.

So now that Trouba's is gone, the sixty-four thousand dollar question remaining is whether Drury is done? That depends on what happens over the next few games. Let's not kid ourselves here. While last night's win was sorely needed, it was hardly reassuring. The Rangers barely beat a Pittsburgh Penguins team that has even more question marks than the Blueshirts; two games ago, the Rangers needed a late power play goal by Kaapo Kakko to avoid what could've been an embarrassing OT defeat to the Montreal Canadiens. The fact is of New York's 14 wins, only two have come against teams that were in the playoffs last season: the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks. The rest? Well let's just say if the Rangers could play the Penguins, Islanders, Canadiens and Red Wings the rest of the season, they'd win back-to-back Presidents' trophies.

So if I had to guess, I'd say Drury isn't done tinkering with this roster. I could see at least two more trades on the horizon. One involving the forwards; the other the defensive pairings. Thanks to the largess of Pat Verbeek, the Rangers are flush with cap space. With the salary cap expected to go up to $92.5 million for the 2025-26 season, Drury will have about $22 million to play with next summer. And assuming he doesn't bring anybody else up from Hartford, he'll have $24 million in deadline cap space to go shopping with this March.

One thing off Drury's plate is who the starting goaltender will be next season. About an hour before last night's game it was announced that the Rangers and Igor Shesterkin had agreed on an 8 year, $92 million contract extension. On any other team a goalie with an $11.5m AAV salary could be considered insane; on the Rangers it's an absolute necessity. Let's be honest: without Igor, no way this team would've advanced to the conference finals two of the last three seasons. You know it and I know it. There was never any doubt Drury was going to re-sign him; the only question was for how much. Frankly, given the numbers we were hearing coming from Shesterkin's camp, $11.5 million seems more than reasonable.

So, Drury rid himself of an overrated, overpriced defenseman and locked up arguably his best player for the next eight years. Hate him if you want, but he had himself quite a day. 

Blame Drury for Trouba Nightmare

Here's what we know, so far. After a disappointing and bitter exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Florida Panthers, it was clear Chris Drury meant it when he said everything was on the table. His first move was to waive Barclay Goodrow. I remember saying at the time that I didn't think there was an appetite within the Rangers organization to move Jacob Trouba. Clearly, I was wrong.

The first hint that something might be brewing was when Drury asked Trouba's agent to submit a list of 15 teams Trouba would not want to be traded to. While it is standard operating procedure for a player to submit such a list when a contract switches from a NMC to a NTC, it is unusual for a GM to request it before it is due. And after the way Goodrow was waived, Trouba understandably was concerned he might be the next one out the door.

Then came the story by Larry Brooks in The New York Post, which had Trouba going to the Detroit Red Wings for an undisclosed return, presumably a couple of mid-level draft picks. Detroit would pick up $5.5 million of Trouba's cap hit, while the Rangers would retain $2.5 million. According to Brooks, the deal was done.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Drury was on the verge of ridding the organization of a contract that was an albatross around its neck, while Trouba was about to be reunited with his old buddy Andrew Copp. Don't you just love happy endings?

That's when the shit hit the fan. Late Sunday, news broke that Trouba was none too happy about leaving the Rangers. In fact, there was speculation that his agent might submit what is referred to as a strategic no trade list; that's a list of teams Trouba would accept a trade to but which likely don't have enough cap space to take on his contract. And how would his agent know which teams don't have enough cap space? The same way we all do: by going to Capfriendly and Puckpedia, that's how.

Going into Monday, it was pretty clear that the standoff between Drury and Trouba impacted the moves the Rangers were able to make. One prominent free agent after another came off the board. While I thought it was highly unlikely that, even with Trouba's contract off the books, there would be enough cap space to sign Jake Guentzel or Steven Stamkos, players like Jonathan Marchessault, Jake DeBrusk, Teuvo Tarevainen and Tyler Toffoli were all reasonable targets that were in Drury's wheelhouse, and yet every one of them signed elsewhere: Marchessault ($5.5m x 5) with the Nashville Predators; DeBrusk ($5.5m x 7) with the Vancouver Canucks; Tarevainen ($5.4m x 3) with the Chicago Blackhawks; and Toffoli ($6m x 4) with the San Jose Sharks.

So instead of landing someone who could've moved the needle, the Rangers wound up signing Sam Carrick ($1m x 3) and trading for Reilly Smith ($5m x 1). Drury was able to get the Pittsburgh Penguins to retain $1.25m of Smith's cap hit by tossing in a 2027 second-round pick to go along with a 2025 fifth rounder. Carrick, I assume, will replace Goodrow on the fourth line, while Smith will likely play on the same line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, and hopefully be more productive than Jack Roslovic and Blake Wheeler were in their relatively short stints with the team. 

To say this situation was badly handled would be an understatement. Drury seems to have completely misread the room here. After the grief he got over how he handled the Goodrow waiver, he did a 180 by informing Trouba of his intentions to trade him before his contract officially switched over to a NTC. In other words, Drury was hoping he could get Trouba to agree to a trade before free agency began so he would know exactly how much he could spend.

But what he didn't know, and hadn't considered, was that the primary reason for Trouba's reluctance to leave New York had very little to do with him not wanting to play for the Red Wings; it had to do with him not wanting to leave his wife Kelly, who's in the final year of a three-year residency at a local Manhattan hospital. Out of fear of retribution to her, the media has not mentioned the name of the hospital.

Which leads me to my next point: Whatever your feelings about this matter, Trouba's wife should be off limits. She has done absolutely nothing wrong here. Going after her is reprehensible. There's no excuse for it. If you're looking for someone to blame, the lion's share should go to Drury. He is the President and GM of this franchise; a franchise which has won exactly one Stanley Cup since 1940. Thanks to his bungling, it is quite possible that Trouba won't be going anywhere this summer. That means the Rangers will have an $8 million defenseman on the third defensive pairing to start the season.

Holy clusterfuck, Batman!

This whole thing could've been avoided had Drury simply acted more decisively. For starters, he shouldn't have asked for Trouba's no trade list in advance. He should've waited until Monday, and if Detroit wasn't on it, he could've pulled the trigger on the trade.* If Detroit was on it, he could've called up his former assistant Mike Grier in San Jose and asked him if he could take on Trouba's contract. If the answer was yes, he could've just waived him like he did with Goodrow. Problem solved.

Obviously, Drury would've caught flack. But that's why he gets the big bucks: to make these types of calls. You think Julien BriseBois gives a shit about catching flack. The Tampa Bay Lightning GM deliberately lowballed Steven Stamkos with an insulting $3 million AAV offer, knowing it would be rejected, just so he could sign Jake Guentzel to a more lucrative $9 million AAV contract. He then held a press conference in which he lied to the media about how it all went down - with a straight face, no less.

Think about that. One of the greatest players ever to don a Lightning jersey and BriseBois literally drove him out of town without so much as batting an eye. That's about as cutthroat as it gets. If you want to know why the Lightning won back-to-back Stanley Cups, this is why. They have a GM who puts the interests of the team ahead of the players. Maybe you don't agree that Guentzel is a better player than Stamkos - and for the record, I don't. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that the man running the organization thought so, and he didn't let anything or anyone get in his way.

Drury needs to be that kind of man. He can sympathize with what Trouba and his wife are going through, but in the end his primary responsibility has to be to his employer and the fans, many of whom haven't seen a championship in their lifetime. The fact is Trouba signed a contract; a contract that went from a no move clause to a 15-team no trade clause on July 1. It's not up to him to "accept" a trade to a team that's not on that list; it's up to him to abide by the terms of the contract. Period.

It's not like Detroit is on the surface of the moon. It's a couple of hours away by plane. What happens when the Rangers go on a long road trip? Does he catch the red eye to Kennedy between games? He's a professional athlete; his GM needs to treat him like one.

For all the intangibles Jacob Trouba brings to the table - his leadership in the locker room, his physical play on the ice - he simply isn't worth the money he's making, or the cap space he's taking up. Chris Drury knows it; the fans know it; and I suspect even his teammates know it. Whether it happens this summer or next, his days as a New York Ranger are numbered.

* I am going on the assumption that the Brooks story is accurate and that there was a trade already in place between Drury and Steve Yzerman. It's quite possible that all that took place was a discussion of a trade. The fact is we don't really know what happened.

Chris Drury's Agonizing Decision.

What do Cam Ward (.920), Chris Osgood (.930), Marc-Andre Fluery (.913), Tim Thomas (.967), Jonathan Quick (.947 & .932), Corey Crawford (.925 & .938), Matt Murray (.920 & .931), Braden Holtby (.916), Jordan Binnington (.912), Andrei Vasilevsky (.911 & .943), Darcy Kuemper (.908) and Adin Hill (.923) all have in common? They all led their respective teams to Stanley Cup championships, and did so while posting a save percentage above .900.

Since the NHL instituted a hard salary cap beginning in the 2005-06 season, only three teams have won the Cup with goaltenders that had sub .900 save percentages: Jean-Sébastien Giguère (.891) for the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, Antti Niemi (.882) for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 and Sergei Bobrovsky (.899) for the Florida Panthers in 2024. But if we're being fair, it's really only two. That's because Bobrovsky posted save percentages of 1.000, .947, .914 and .958 in the four games the Panthers won. He literally stole game one. Without him in net, the Edmonton Oilers probably win the series in six.

So what is my point? Basically this: goaltending is as essential to winning the Stanley Cup as pitching is to winning the World Series and special teams are to winning the Super Bowl. Without it, your chances of prevailing are remote at best. The fact is there isn't a sport on this planet that doesn't depend on one team stopping the other from scoring.

Yes, there are exceptions to this rule. I listed two of them above. But you can't tell me with a straight face that the Los Angeles Kings win their two Cups in 2012 & 2014 without Jonathan Quick between the pipes, or that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning win back-to-back Cups without Matt Murray and Andrei Vasilevsky respectively. Not without having to submit to a breathalyzer test.

Go back as far as you like, even before the cap era. Where would the Montreal Canadiens have been without Ken Dryden? Or the Philadelphia Flyers without Bernie Parent? Or the Islanders without Billy Smith? Or the New Jersey Devils without Marty Brodeur? I omit the Oilers '80s dynasty, because I do believe that team would've won with Doug Soeteart in goal. Imagine having to go back five decades to prove a point. And that point, at least according to the pinheads - some of whom make a living covering this sport and actually think they know something about hockey - is that goaltending is a plug-in-play position. Basically, you can put anybody in there, and if your team is good enough, you'll win.

Oh yeah? Tell that to Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. His goalie Stuart Skinner should've stopped Sam Reinhart's second-period goal that made it 2-1 Florida. If he makes that save, game seven likely goes to overtime. And then who knows what would've happened. We could be talking about the greatest comeback in NHL history instead of, well, you know. His counterpart - the guy everybody swears is grossly overpaid at $10 million - had no problem coming up with the big saves when his team needed them. In hockey, it's not how many saves you make, but when you make them that counts. With the series on the line and the Cup in the building, Sergei Bobrovsky delivered. The man earned his paycheck. EVERY FUCKING PENNY!

Goaltending is the only position I can think of where scoring an 88 on a test gets you an F. And that's why Chris Drury has an agonizing decision to make. One that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. A year from now, Igor Shesterkin will be a UFA. For those of you who own stock in Depends, now would be a good time to buy some more shares. Trust me, you're gonna need 'em.

There's no polite way to put this. Without Shesterkin, the Rangers are a slightly above average team that isn't close to being a contender. They don't beat the Penguins, much less the Carolina Hurricanes, in 2022. And while they most likely would've beaten the Washington Capitals this year, that series would've gone at least six games. Forget about the Canes. They would've lost in six. The Panthers? Try a four-game sweep. You wanna give the Blueshirts game two at the Garden? Ok, fine, but that's it. The fact is I cannot think of a single team in the league that is more reliant upon its goaltending than the Rangers. It's like Popeye with his spinach.

And that's why unless his agent goes completely bonkers and demands somewhere in the neighborhood of $14-$15 million per year over 8 years, Drury cannot afford to let Igor jump ship. Even if the number is $12 million, unless the Rangers believe Dylan Garand is ready to make the leap from Hartford to the NHL - a HUGE risk, by the way - they sign him to that contract. In fact, they make sure he doesn't leave the building until he signs it. He grew up in Russia; I'm sure he's familiar with being detained. 

Just kidding, I think.

Don't get me wrong. If there's a chance Drury can keep that number at or below $10 million, he should exhaust every effort to do so. But if I had $10 million, or even $12 million, to spend on a goaltender, I'd take Shesterkin over Bobrovsky or Vasilevsky any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. You wanna talk about a team-friendly contract? If the $5.7 million Igor is currently making doesn't constitute highway robbery, I don't know what does. One way or another, the man is going to get paid; the only question is by whom?

Look, I get the economics here. $10 or $12 million is nothing to sneeze at. And with the salary cap expected to go up to $92 million next summer, the ramifications of one player taking up potentially 13 percent of that cap are considerable. But given that Artemi Panarin is making $11.6 million and he hasn't exactly been Guy Lafleur in the postseason, is it really unreasonable to compensate someone who has been, without question, the team's most valuable player the last three years? Like I said, someone is going to pay him.

There will be those who will argue, perhaps with some justification, that it's possible to find elite goaltenders without breaking the bank. Adin Hill, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman all made less than $5 million and all had exceptional postseasons. I would counter that Hill and Oettinger are a year away from becoming RFAs and Swayman is an RFA right now and looking at a fairly significant pay raise. By the time they get to UFA status, all three will be making five figures, I can assure you. As Howie Rose would say, you can put it in the books.

This is the hard part of being a general manager. Anybody can hire and fire a coach. But fielding a team that is both a contender and cap compliant, now that takes talent. Chris Drury not only has to fix what went wrong this year, he has to do so in a way that guarantees there will still be a reason to go to Madison Square Garden in the 2025-26 season.

I don't envy him the next twelve months.

In Joe We Trust.

If you had any doubts about whether Joe Schoen was the right man to run the New York Giants, the last couple of days should've put them all to bed. In a span of 24 hours, Schoen not only got Saquon Barkley to sign his franchise tag but locked up his top offensive tackle Andrew Thomas for the next five years.

First Barkley: Schoen front loaded a $2 million signing bonus into the tag and included $909,000 in bonus incentives that 1. require the Giants to make the playoffs; and 2. require Barkley to rush for 1300 yards, catch 65 passes and score 11 touchdowns. It also doesn't preclude the Giants from slapping a franchise tag on Barkley next year.

It's a win / win for Schoen. Think about it. If the Giants make the playoffs and Barkley manages to hit all his benchmarks, it'll be the easiest $900k Schoen ever spent. However, should the Giants fail to make the postseason, or if Barkley fails to hit any or all of his benchmarks, Schoen at the very least avoided what could've been a protracted holdout and got arguably the third best running back in the NFL to play for a million dollars less than the last offer he had on the table before the deadline.

Shrewd doesn't begin to describe what happened here. For all the sympathy Barkley was engendering within the sports community over how "unfairly" he was being treated, the simple truth is that all the leverage was on the Giants side. Once Barkley rejected what would've been a three-year deal that included $22 to $23 million in guaranteed money, his only option was to sign the franchise tag. A holdout would've cost him even more money and quite possibly ended his career with Big Blue. In the end, he did the right thing and swallowed his pride. 

But Schoen wasn't remotely done. He signed Thomas to a five-year, $117.5 million deal that ensures one of the best left tackles in football remains a Giant for the foreseeable future. It's a huge contract to be sure - the second highest for that position in the league - but the way it's written, it only increases Thomas's cap hit by $1.47 million over last season.

Indeed, between locking up Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence, Barkley and Thomas and the additions of Darren Waller, Cole Beasley and James Robinson, Schoen is assembling a roster that will be deeper than the one that went 9-7-1 last year and made the playoffs for first time since 2016.

In only his second full season as Giants' GM, Schoen is establishing himself as one helluva negotiator. At the bye last season he offered CB Julian Love a two-year, $14 million contract extension. Like Barkley, Love rejected it and instead shopped around. In response, Schoen pulled the offer and Love eventually wound up signing with the Seattle Seahawks - for $12 million; $2 million less than what he could've gotten from the Giants.

The moral of the story is simple. When Joe Schoen puts a contract in front of you, sign it. Because that's the best offer you're going to get. The man means business.

Just ask Saquon Barkley.

"It Is What It Is."

"There ain't no good guy; there ain't no bad guy. There's only you and me and we just disagree." 

- Dave Mason

No doubt there will be a good deal of analysis and even some finger pointing over the next few weeks regarding what happened between the New York Giants and Saquon Barkley. What we know for certain is that GM Joe Schoen made the last of what was believed to be three contract offers to the all-pro running back, all of which were rejected. As a result, Big Blue will go into the 2023 season not knowing whether Barkley will sign his $10.1 million franchise tag or hold out. As of now, it's anybody's guess.

Already the Monday-morning quarterbacks - pardon the pun - are chirping away. How could the Giants allow this to happen? Why couldn't Schoen just give Barkley what he was asking for? After all, he gave $160 million to Daniel Jones. Certainly Barkley deserved no less consideration given what he has done for this organization.

Let's be clear: the Jones contract was entirely different. The Giants never had any intention of letting their quarterback walk. It was simply a matter of whether they were going to franchise tag him or sign him to a long-term extension. The former meant a $32.4 million cap hit on the books, while the latter, due to the way the contract was written, worked out to a $21.7 million cap hit. For a team still reeling from Dave Gettleman's gross incompetence, Schoen would've been a fool to tag Jones. 

This was a business decision, pure and simple. Schoen knew what he wanted to spend and, more importantly, what he could afford to give up. It's worth noting that even with Barkley on a franchise tag, the Giants only have $4.1 million in available cap space left. As valuable as Barkley is to this offense, Schoen had a fiduciary responsibility to an organization that, cap wise, has been a train wreck for years. How bad a train wreck? This season, they will be carrying $14.7 million in dead cap space, courtesy of Kenny Golladay's contract buyout.

If you're looking for someone to blame here, try Barkley's agent, Kim Miale. She badly overplayed her hand. Either she didn't know what the market for running backs was or she doubted Schoen's resolve. In either event, she cost her client a good deal of money. 

Agents have two basic responsibilities: One should be fairly obvious: get their clients as much money as possible; two, level with their clients in the event they are unsuccessful. Miale clearly failed on number two. Once it was obvious that Schoen wasn't going to blink, she should've told Barkley to sign the contract. She didn't. Or if she did, Barkley didn't listen to her. So instead of a three-year deal with $22 million in guaranteed money, he will now have to settle for $10.1 million on a one-year franchise tag and then hope for a better offer from the Giants next season. 

Fat chance that happening. If anything, it's entirely possible the Giants won't even tender him a franchise tag next summer. The fact that no other team approached Barkley with an offer better than what the Giants had on the table is a pretty good indication that, despite his bonafides, the demand for his services just wasn't there. Josh Jacobs, who had a much better season for the Raiders, also didn't get the deal he was looking for and, like Barkley, has so far refused to sign his franchise tag.

Like it or not, the NFL is a passing league. Running backs are not very high on the pecking order. With the franchise tag expected to go up to $12 million in '24, the Giants might very well elect to low ball Barkley, or perhaps walk away entirely. If that happens, it's on Miale. 

Look, is it fair that one of the most dynamic players in the league is getting treated this way? Of course not. As a fan, I feel bad for the guy. He deserved better than what he got. And I have no doubt that this will reverberate throughout the locker room. It could even cost the Giants a playoff appearance, especially if Barkley decides to sit out the season. 

But the bottom line is this: the NFL, like the NBA and the NHL, has a salary cap. And, yes, I know the league gives their GMs all kinds of room to get creative with respect to player contracts. But come the start of the season, teams still have to be cap compliant. Gettleman was one of the most creative GMs the Giants ever had and look where it got them. At some point you have to be willing to say "enough is enough."

I actually respect the decision Schoen made. It couldn't have been easy for him. But in the end, it was the only decision he could've make.

Rangers Fill Their Shopping Cart

Going into this offseason, Chris Drury had three things on his to-do list: 1. Hire a coaching staff; 2. Fill out a roster that as of June 30 had only 14 players signed for the 2023-24 season; and 3. Do it in a way that left him enough cap space to re-sign his two most valuable RFAs: Alexis Lafreniere and K'Andre Miller.

Mission accomplished on all three.

I've already written at length about the Laviolette signing so I won't bore you any further with it. That leaves us with items two and three.

Let's face it: with only $11.7 million to work with, Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko were never more than pipe dreams for the Twitterverse. There was no way Drury was going to be able to keep either player. The mathematics just wasn't there. And since Drury had made up his mind that he wasn't going to trade or buyout Barclay Goodrow, that meant that the players he was looking at were, shall we say, the bargain basement variety. 

But that doesn't mean he bought crap. Indeed, Drury deserves high marks for his cap creativity. Not one player came in over $825k. And every one filled a need that was sorely lacking. Blake Wheeler ($800k) gives new head coach Peter Laviolette a scoring right wing he can slot anywhere in the top nine; Nick Bonino ($800k) is a legit center that will anchor the fourth line and can also kill penalties; Tyler Pitlick ($787.5k), Riley Nash ($775k) and Alex Belzille ($775) are gritty wingers who will compete for a spot on the fourth line with Will Cuylle; Erik Gustafsson, who played for Laviolette in Washington last season, is a solid left-handed defenseman with some offensive upside, that will play on the third pairing with Braden Schneider; and Jonathan Quick ($825k) was a two-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender with the LA Kings and will now backup Igor Shesterkin.

After the ink dries, Drury will still have $6.9 million left in the kitty to re-sign Lafreniere and Miller, which barring an offer sheet on one or both, should be more than enough.

Were there better options out there? Of course there were, but none that fit within the budget. And in a league that for some godforsaken reason saw fit to raise the salary cap a measly $1 million, the budget Drury had work with was as tight as a drum. Consider this: the Rangers were one of the few teams in the NHL that wasn't forced to giveaway or buyout a single player under contract; nor did they overpay for the players they signed. Betsy Ross couldn't have threaded this needle any better than Drury.

That being said, there are some concerns. Wheeler will be 37 by the start of the season; Bonino is 35; and Quick is nowhere near the goalie he was when the Kings were winning their Cups. A pessimist would say that Drury is taking a big risk here. But it was a risk Drury had to take. Anybody who thinks they could've done better needs to step forward now or forever shut the fuck up. And that goes for a certain individual whose named after a rodent at Disney World.

Now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Is this a better team than the one that took the ice at the start of last season? Yes, it is. But as Rangers fans know all too well, it isn't how you start the season that counts; it's how you end it.

Or as a cook might say: the proof is in the pudding.

Drury Has His Coach. Now Comes the Hard Part

Five weeks after he fired Gerard Gallant, Chris Drury finally hired his replacement. Let's be clear: Peter Laviolette is no Scotty Bowman; nor is he Al Arbour, or, for that matter, Toe fucking Blake. But based on his resume alone, he was the best option available.

Key word "available." Because if we assume Mike Sullivan wasn't going anywhere - and based on the information coming out of Pittsburgh, ownership didn't think the problem with the Penguins was behind the bench but rather in the front office - and Rod Brind'Amour and Jon Cooper are secure in Carolina and Tampa respectively, the list of candidates from which to choose was considerably small.

There was no way that Drury was going to hire someone with no head coaching experience, so that eliminated Chris Knoblauch and Seattle assistant Jay Leach. And the Patrick Roy rumors were just that: rumors. Drury never even bothered to interview him. As for John Hynes, friendship is a beautiful thing, but it doesn't overcome an otherwise less than stellar coaching career. And even if Joel Quenneville got reinstated by Gary Bettman tomorrow, the baggage he'd bring with him to the Garden would probably be too much, even for James Dolan. Mark Messier? If Glen Sather didn't hire him ten years ago, what makes anyone think Drury was going to do it now? Face it: he'll always be a legend. But not every legend gets to drive the car.

In the end, Drury went with Laviolette because he was the most qualified. Period. Among active head coaches, only Lindy Ruff (834) and Paul Maurice (817) have more wins than Laviolette's 752. He's only the second coach in NHL history to pilot three different teams to the Stanley Cup finals; the other was Bowman. Anyone who has a problem with this hire doesn't know jack shit about hockey.

Yes, he's a retread who's been fired multiple times. Know who else is a retread who's been fired multiple times? Bruce Cassidy (twice) and the aforementioned Maurice (four times). All both men did was guide their respective teams to the Stanley Cup finals this year. Cassidy's former employer - the Boston Bruins - were eliminated in the first round by Maurice's Florida Panthers; while Maurice's former employer - the Winnipeg Jets - lost in the first round to Cassidy's Vegas Golden Knights. How's that for Karma?

For me, the only pertinent question is whether Laviolette can turn this talented group of players into a team capable of competing for the Cup. From what we can gleam from his past, there are two things that distinguish him from Gallant.

One, while technically a players' coach, Laviolette's leash is considerably shorter than Gallant's. If the Rangers struggle out of the gate like they did this season, he isn't likely to be as patient. It's worth noting that even before Jacob Trouba's helmet-throwing incident against the Blackhawks, Drury was starting to have doubts about the nonchalant way that Gallant was handling the team's inconsistencies. Those inconsistencies plagued the Rangers all season long, and things came to a head between both men after the game-four loss in the Devils series.

Two, Laviolette is quite adept at making both in-game and in-series adjustments and is an advocate of matching lines, something Gallant was either too stubborn to do or incapable of doing. Against the Devils this year and the Lightning last year, Gallant was badly out-coached by Ruff and Cooper, both of whom made adjustments that allowed their respective teams to overcome 0-2 deficits and eventually win the series. The Devils series was particularly frustrating because the Rangers, after going 4-10 on the power play in the first two games, went 0-5 in game three. Had they converted on just one of their man-power advantages, they would've gone up 3-0 in the series and likely advanced to the second round.

But short leashes and adjustments notwithstanding, can Laviolette get Artemi Panarin to stop making those risky cross-ice passes in the offensive zone that lead to odd-man rushes the other way? Can he convince Chris Kreider to park his 230 pound carcass in front of the net? Can he persuade Adam Fox to shoot more from the point instead of deferring to others? Can he transform a predictable, if lethal, power play into one that has multiple looks and can survive any adjustment an opposing coach might make? Because if the answer to those questions is no, then we're right back where we started.

And that's where Drury comes in. Now that the coach is in place, the GM has to give him the horses he needs to succeed. That won't be easy. The Rangers have just over $11.7 million in available cap space going into next season with only 14 players under contract. Assuming Drury elects to go with a roster of 22, that comes out to an average of $1.5 million per player. With both Alexis Lafreniere and K'Andre Miller RFAs, Drury will have to decide whether to bridge both or sign one to a long-term deal and bridge the other.

If he chooses to go the latter route, the most likely player to lock up would be Miller. While the third-year defenseman took a step backwards this season, he still has the potential to be a star in this league. A similar deal to what Filip Chytil got ($4.4m x 4) sounds reasonable. Lafreniere would then get the same bridge deal Kaapo Kakko got last year ($2.1m x 2). That leaves $5.2 million to sign a backup goalie, another defenseman and four more forwards. Clearly, Drury will have to shed some salary in order to fill out the roster.

The most likely sacrificial lamb is Barclay Goodrow. The Swiss-army knife, as Gallant once referred to him, is making $3.64 million per season. Given his skill set, that isn't too outlandish, especially when you consider the Calgary Flames are paying Blake Coleman - Goodrow's linemate from his days with the Lightning - $4.9 million per season. But in the flat-cap era, his contract is an albatross around the neck of the organization. With that money Drury could sign someone like Nick Bjugstad for about $1 million. Then he could call up his counterpart in Carolina and inquire about the availability of his nephew Jack. With a cap hit of only $925k, the 23 year old winger would be the ideal fourth liner. That would leave Drury with $1.7 million to add to the $5.2 million in the kitty.

The problem is that Goodrow has a no-trade clause which includes 15 teams, meaning Drury will have a hard time finding a suitable trade partner. If there are no takers, he could always buy him out. The way Goodrow's contract is written, the Rangers would net $200k and $100k in cap space the first two years respectively. But then after that, the cap hit goes up as follows: $1.15m in year three; $3.65m in year four, followed by $1.258m for the next four years. That's a ton of cabbage to doll out for a player that no longer plays for you. With this upcoming season being the first in the last four that the Rangers won't be carrying any dead-cap space, I doubt Drury wants to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, Jeff Gorton. Then again, with the cap expected to go up considerably over the next few seasons, maybe Drury takes the upfront savings and kicks the can down the road.

So let's say Drury buys out Goodrow. With $7.1 million in available cap space, he can re-sign Tyler Motte and Jaroslav Halak for $1m each; re-sign Niko Mikkola for $1.3m; and give Will Cuylle and Brennan Othmann - $828k and $863k respectively - a shot at making the team. That leaves $2.1 million in reserve for Drury to sign a certain someone who might not be available to play until, say, late winter or early spring, assuming he'd be willing to play for that amount. Drury could place him on LTIR and activate him later.

That would give the Ranges the following roster:

Forwards to start the season:

Kreider, Zibaejad, Lafreniere

Panarin, Trocheck, Vesey

Othmann, Chytil, Kakko

Motte, Bjugstad, Drury

Cuylle 

Forwards going into the postseason:

Kreider, Zibaejad, Mystery player

Panarin, Trocheck, Vesey

Lafreniere, Chytil, Kakko

Motte, Bjugstad, Drury

Othmann, Cuylle

Defensemen:

Lindgren, Fox

Miller, Trouba

Mikkola, Schneider

Harper

Goalies:

Shesterkin, Halak

It's not a bad roster, assuming Laviolette can get it to play up to its potential.

Rangers Have Their Fil

You wanna know how serious Chris Drury is about building a core that will endure? Since he became President and GM of the Rangers in the summer of 2021, he's managed to lock up his top three centers without paying a single one more than $8.5 million AAV. 

Read it and weep. Mika Zibanaejad: $8.5m x 8; Vincent Trocheck: $5.625m x 7; and now Filip Chytil: $4.4375m x 4. All three key contributors on a team that is considered by many to be the deepest in the NHL heading into the playoffs. In a league where top heavy contracts are the rule, the Rangers have only one player - Artemi Panarin - who's making more than $10 million per season. And that is a tribute to Drury who has managed to navigate the treacherous waters of the flat cap era without being devoured.

It's no secret the Rangers were facing a daunting task trying to retain all three of their RFAs this summer. Last July, yours truly wrote that they needed to "lock up Alexis Lafreniere ASAP." The concern was that once he hit the free agent market, a rival GM - Jeff Gorton, for instance - would sign him to an offer sheet that Drury couldn't match. Goodbye number one draft pick, hello humiliation.

Well, scratch one RFA from the list. With Chytil having a breakout season, the question wasn't whether Drury would re-sign him - it was obvious he couldn't afford to let him walk - but whether he could get him to accept a team-friendly deal that would afford him the opportunity of also keeping both Lafreniere and K'Andre Miller. Mission accomplished. $4.4375m is approximately a million under market value for a player with Chytil's stats and ceiling. Making the deal even sweeter for the Rangers, Drury was able to buy out two years of arbitration rights on Chytil, as well as two years of free agency.

Contrary to popular belief, centers who can score 20 or more goals do not grow on trees. With Zibanejad, Trocheck and Chytil, the Rangers have three of them. Wanna know how rare that is? The Rangers are the only team in the NHL that can say that. I'd say that's pretty rare, wouldn't you? 

Last summer, there were those who thought that when Ryan Strome bolted for the Anaheim Ducks, the Rangers should've just given the 2C job to Chytil and used the cap savings to lock up all three RFAs to long-term deals, like the Tampa Bay Lightning did with Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev. Drury wasn't comfortable giving Chytil that much responsibility so he signed Trocheck to fill Strome's spot.

As it turns out, Drury made the right call. After a slow start, Trocheck has become a solid 2C, and Chytil, centering the "kid" line, has come into his own. As a result, the Rangers are now set down the middle for the foreseeable future. If he can bridge Lafreniere and Miller, the Rangers, regardless of what happens in the postseason, should be in good shape cap wise going into next season.

Giants Lock Up Their Franchise Quarterback

In the end, Joe Schoen didn't have much choice. Either he was going to bite the bullet and give in to Daniel Jones' demands, or he was going to slap the franchise tag on him. The latter meant two things: 1. Saquon Barkley would likely be signed by another team with no compensation coming back to the Giants; and 2. The entire $32.4* million owed Jones under the franchise tag would be guaranteed and would be applied in full to the 2023 salary cap. Neither was acceptable to Schoen.

So he did the only thing he could: he waited until the 11th hour - 3:59 PM Tuesday, to be exact - to agree to a four year, $160 million contract - $82 million guaranteed. Doing that allowed him to franchise tag Barkley for $10.1 million. But more importantly, it meant that the first year of Jones' contract - thanks to the way it was written - would only count $19 million against the cap. And if Schoen can somehow get Barkley to accept a two-year, $25 million deal, that 10.1 million cap hit would be lowered by $1 or $2 million. Only in the NFL can $40 million equal $19 million. If Jones played hockey instead of football, he and his agent would be up a creek.

Now before you skewer Schoen for overpaying for Jones, it's important to understand just how hamstrung he was regarding the salary cap. While not quite as hard up as some of his fellow GMs, Schoen was nonetheless facing a daunting task: how to field a team next season and still be cap compliant. Nobody, with the exception of Jones, his family, a handful of friends and his agent, seriously believed that coming off a year in which he had only 15 touchdowns and threw for 3205 yards, he was worth $40 million per year. And keep in mind, Jones' agents were reportedly asking for $46 million. If Daniel Jones is worth $46 million, Patrick Mahomes is worth $75 million. Even $38 million was pushing the envelope. $35 million seemed a more reasonable figure.

But reason and reality rarely intersect in professional sports. If they did, the Mets payroll would be $200 million instead of $370 million. Schoen knew with the clock ticking, he didn't have the leverage to play hardball. Give him credit at least for turning a shit sandwich into a Big Mac. Once the Giants buy out Kenny Golladay next week, they will have about $25 million in available cap space. And if they can somehow get Leonard Williams to renegotiate his contract, they could pick up another $5 million. Now you know why John Mara hired an assistant GM instead of a Director of Player Personnel to run his franchise. The latter may be a good talent evaluator, but the former knows how to crunch numbers. Schoen is still digging out from the debris left by his predecessor.

But there was another reason for keeping Jones. His ceiling is still unknown. I have long felt that Jones' biggest problem is between his ears. He obviously has the arm strength and the wheels to play in the NFL; it's his pocket presence and decision making that has so often tripped him up. If Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka can continue to mold him, there's a very real possibility that this contract could pay for itself in two years. If not, if Jones never develops into the quarterback the Giants envisioned him being when they drafted him, Schoen can simply cut him after the '24 season with only an $18 million dead cap hit on the books.

Feel better? You should. Joe Schoen knows what he's doing. Just take a look at the Buffalo Bills. In two years, the Giants could be where they are.

Who wouldn't want that?

* An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that Jones's franchise tag would've been $36.2 million had the Giants not signed him to his four year contract. The actual amount was $32.4 million. I have made the correction. Sorry for the confusion.

Drury's Trade Deadline Dilemma

I'll be honest with you. The prospect of seeing Timo Meier on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin is enticing. Just think of the possibilities. For the last two seasons, Gerard Gallant has been trying to assemble the perfect line. Last year, Chris Drury brought in Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp at the trade deadline in an attempt to do just that. It almost worked. Emphasis on almost. Know what? Meier, Zibanaejad and Panarin would be the perfect line.

Did you see the way Meier played last night? He almost single-handedly beat the Lightning, first by scoring the Sharks second goal of the game and then netting the overtime winner. In just 52 games this season, he already has 30 goals, the third time in his career he has cracked the 30 goal mark. And he's only 26. Just imagine what he'd do in a Rangers uniform over the next eight seasons.

Unfortunately, imagination is where this discussion will have to end. That's because as a pending RFA, Meier - who's in the last year of a four-year, $6 million AAV contract - is due for a considerable bump in pay from whichever team is the lucky recipient of his services. Think $8.5 million x 8 years. Meaning he's not a rental; he's a long-term lease.

Why is that a problem? Because the Rangers have three of their own RFAs to deal wth over the summer: Alexis Lafreniere, K'Andre Miller and Filip Chytil. The latter is finally starting to deliver on his promise. He scored two goals against the Flames Monday night and would've had a hat trick had he not passed up a golden scoring chance in the closing seconds of regulation; and the former scored the OT winner. The total price tag for all three will be considerably more than what Meier will command all by himself.

Bottom line: there's simply no way Drury can acquire Meier and keep him; not unless he decides to let Lafreniere and either Miller or Chytil walk - very unlikely - or he moves a large contract. And regarding the latter, the only contracts large enough to offset Meier's price tag all have NMCs attached to them. If you seriously think for a moment that Jacob Trouba - $8 million AAV - is going to just waive what his agent worked so hard to get him, you obviously have taken one too may pucks to the head. Long story, short, Meier isn't coming to Broadway, at least not in this lifetime.

But what about the option of just trading for him and letting him walk? The assets Drury would have to part with, both in draft picks and prospects, would make Meier the most expensive three-month rental in franchise history. And God forbid the Rangers don't win the Cup, it would have profound repercussions for years to come. Given this G.M.'s track record, it seems highly improbable he would be that reckless.

So where does that leave Drury? Ostensibly right where he was a year ago at this time. It should be noted that going into the '22 trade deadline, the Rangers were supposedly linked to several high-profile players like J.T. Miller, Mark Scheiflele and Claude Giroux? In the end, Drury passed on all of them and opted to go with role players like Copp, Vatrano, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun. All four were integral in the Rangers advancing to the Eastern Conference finals. Sometimes it's the trades you don't make that end up being the most consequential.

That's why I think Drury isn't going to make a big splash at the trade deadline; not unless the price is just right. And with several more teams looking to improve their playoff fortunes, that scenario might be next to impossible to achieve. Translation, no Patrick Kane or Vladimir Tarasenko.

Indeed, apart from Vitali Kravtsov - who seems to have worn out his welcome with Gallant - there isn't a single prospect in the organization Drury is willing to part with. Will Cuylle and Brennan Othmann are all but certain to make the team next season; and now that they're starting to click, the Kid line isn't going anywhere. Who knows, a year or two from now that line might be among the best in the league. 

Jimmy Vesey, who was a PTO coming into camp, has looked pretty good playing on the Zibanejad line. He would've had himself a pair of goals Monday night were it not for two incredible saves by Jacob Markstrom. Gallant loves 200 foot players, and Vesey, along with Barclay Goodrow, who has found a home playing with Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider, are the ideal Swiss army knives. You can slot them anywhere and they contribute. Believe it or not, this year's team is better and deeper than last year's team.

So maybe Drury decides he likes the makeup of the roster and elects to shore up his fourth line. Perhaps Nick Bjugstad from Arizona could be had for a third round pick. With 11 goals, he'd be perfect centering Cuylle and Sammy Blais. And with Bjugstad making only $900k this season, the Rangers could re-sign him on the cheap, just like they did with Vesey and Ben Harper. The nice thing about Drury is that, like a good chess player, he's always thinking two moves ahead.

Look, in a world with no salary cap, Timo Meier would be a New York Ranger right now. So, by the way, would at least half a dozen other players. But if memory serves, before the NHL instituted a hard salary cap, the Rangers would spend money like a drunken sailor, and for their effort typically wound up with a nasty hangover.

The Giants Glass is Half Full

It sucks losing, I know; it particularly sucks when the opponent you lose to resides 90 miles down the Jersey Turnpike. And, trust me, Eagles fans will be insufferable if their team goes on to win the Super Bowl next month. When they won their first title in 2017, you'd have thought Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr had been resurrected from the dead. Philadelphia may be the city of brotherly love, but its sports fans can be pompous assholes.

But while the final score on Saturday may have been lopsided, in no way, shape or form did it detract from what the Giants accomplished this season. Despite what Mike Francesa said, this team exceeded all expectations. Coming off a 4-13 record - their fifth losing campaign in a row - the so-called football "experts" scoffed at the notion that Brian Daboll and Co. could turn this ship around. Indeed, yours truly had them going 6-11. That they finished 9-7-1, and made it all the way to the Divisional round of the playoffs, should qualify as the "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" story of the decade.

So now what? With the season over, what comes next? Yes, the glass is half full instead of half empty, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. You still have half a glass of water. They may have been the most resilient team in the NFL but spit and polish doesn't get you a Super Bowl ring. As painful as it was to watch the Eagles humiliate the Giants on national TV, they were the better team in every measurable way.

Joe Schoen has his work cut out for him. Thanks to his predecessor's incompetence, he was saddled with roughly $53 million in dead cap this past season. He also had another $21.1 million of useless salary on the books in the person of Kenny Golladay, whose lone touchdown came in week 18 at Philly. Next season, Golladay's cap hit will be $21.4 million. If the Giants buy him out after June 1, the dead cap hit would be $7.9 million in 2023 and $6.8 million in 2024. When you factor in the $3.6 million in dead cap from Kadarius Toney, the Giants will have about $58 million in available cap space to go shipping with during the off season. 

That may seem like a lot of money, but it really isn't. That's because the lion's share of it will go to Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, assuming Schoen elects to re-sign them. And based on what they did in 2022, it's hard to imagine them not coming back. 

Jones threw for 3205 yards with 15 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. He also rushed for a club record 708 yards. His quarterback rating of 60.8 was 7th best in the NFL. To say he had a career year would be an understatement. Barkley had his best season as a Giant since his rookie year with 1312 rushing yards, good for 4th best in the league. More than that, he proved he could stay healthy, which was a major concern going into the season. Both players have expressed a desire to return in 2023.

But at what cost? Jones and Barkley made $8.3 and $7.2 million respectively this season. A three-year deal for Jones would likely come in around $35 million per season. Barkley supposedly turned down a three-year, $36 million offer and is reportedly looking for a contract similar to the $16 million Christian McCaffrey is making. Let's say both sides meet in the middle. $14 million plus $35 million comes out to $49 million. For those with an adding machine, that comes to $49 million, which leaves Schoen with just $9 million to plug the many holes on this team. If you were paying close attention throughout the season, you know that isn't nearly enough.

For the Giants to become genuine contenders, two areas in particular must be beefed up: wide receiver and linebacker. Regarding the former, the Giants were the only playoff team not to have a 1,000 yard receiver. Darius Slayton led them with 724 yards; Richie James, who dropped a sure touchdown on Saturday, was next with 569; and Jones's favorite target, Isaiah Hodgins - a pick up from Buffalo after being waived - had 392. It's obvious that Schoen will have to go through the draft to land an elite receiver.

Regarding the latter, the way the Eagles ran roughshod all over the Giants both on Saturday and at MetLife in December should tell you everything you need to know about their lack of depth at this position. Clearly, Jihad Ward and Jaylon Smith weren't the answers here. Again, with limited cap space, Schoen may have to address this need through the draft as well. 

One tool available to him that could help is the franchise tag. Each team is permitted to franchise tag one player per season. Considering how expensive both Jones and Barkley might be to retain, Schoen could go that route with one of them to save some cap space. And if he can get a couple of players to renegotiate their contracts, that will help as well. One thing is certain: the talent gap that exists between the Giants and the top teams in the league isn't going to be bridged anytime soon.

Bottom line: this is still a rebuild. A rebuild that may be ahead of schedule, but a rebuild nonetheless. As Schoen emphasized in his press conference yesterday, patience is important. "Teams are never one player away," he said.

It's reassuring having adults run the show, isn't it?

Gary Bettman's Potential Early Christmas Present

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's announcement, following a board of governors meeting in New York, that the salary cap might go up to $86.5 million instead of the expected $83.5 million came as welcomed news to every general manager and player agent in the sport.

"We believe that there is a good probability that the escrow will be paid off this season. It may not be, but it’s going to be close we think, which means the flat cap will be replaced by a bigger increase. Revenue is pretty vibrant. We probably did $5.4 billion in [hockey-related revenues] this past season, which is actually about a half a billion more than we projected a year ago when we were starting things up. Things are good."

For those who haven't been paying attention - and from what I've seen on Twitter, that appears to be a rather large contingent of fans - the league has been operating under a flat cap since the 2019-20 season was paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, the salary cap was $81.5 million, and to make sure the cap wasn't reduced, the NHLPA agreed to have part of their players salaries placed into an escrow account. The understanding being that once that balance was paid off, the cap would resume its pre-pandemic trajectory. Initially, that was supposed to be at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. That timeline has now been accelerated by one season.

It cannot be overstated just how significant this development is. Notwithstanding the financial losses the league suffered, many teams are literally staring at cap hell, both this season and next. A look at some of the moves GMs were forced to make over the past two summers underscores just how difficult it's been to build and retain a core of players. Many teams were unable to field a full roster of 23 players this season because they simply don't have the cap space. The Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche couldn't re-sign their number two center Nazem Kadri over the summer because they would've been over the cap. He subsequently signed with the Calgary Flames. Imagine if the Avs had an extra $3 million in the kitty.

Closer to home, Chris Drury is facing something of a quandary himself. At the conclusion of this season, Alexis Lafreniere, K'Andre Miller and Filip Chytil are all RFAs. At present, the Rangers, after waiving Dryden Hunt - or as Ranger Twitter has referred to him, the second coming of Rick Middleton - have just over $900k in cap space. That translates to about $4 million in deadline cap space for Drury to shop around for reinforcements at the trade deadline.

Assuming there are no additional buyouts this offseason, the Rangers will get $3.4 million in dead cap space off the books. Every cent of that money, and then some, will go to re-signing either Lafreniere or Miller, leaving Drury with some tough choices about which players to trade or let go. Even with the expected additional $1 million in salary cap and the expiration of Ryan Reaves' $1.75 million contract, there just isn't enough room at the inn to keep the band together. Imagine going through the pains of a rebuild and not being able to see it all the way through.

Now if all goes according to plan, Drury might be able to have his cake and eat it too. With a salary cap at $86.5 million, the Rangers would be able to keep Lafreniere, Miller and Chytil, provided they can get at least one of them - preferably Chytil - into a bridge deal. Below is what a potential 2023-24 roster could look like:

2023-24 Salary Cap

$86,500,000.00

Forwards
Panarin	$11,642,857.00
Zibanejad	$8,500,000.00
Kreider	$6,500,000.00
Trocheck	$5,625,000.00
Lafreniere	$5,000,000.00
Chytil	$3,750,000.00
Goodrow	$3,641,667.00
Kakko	$2,100,000.00
Blais	$1,525,000.00
Othmann	$894,167.00
Korczak	$859,167.00
Cuylle	$828,333.00
Rydahl	$800,000.00

Total  $51,666,191.00

Defensemen
Fox	$9,500,000.00
Trouba	$8,000,000.00
Miller	$4,000,000.00
Lindgren	$3,000,000.00
Jones	$1,200,000.00
Schneider	$925,000.00

Total

$26,625,000.00

Goalies
Gerand	$828,333.00
Shesterkin	$5,666,667.00

Total

$6,495,000.00

Total Cap Hit	$84,786,191.00
CAP SPACE	$1,713,809.00

As you'll note, I have Blais returning next year for the same salary he's making now and both Othmann and Cuylle making the team. Also, I have Gerand as the backup to Igor. I assume Drury will include Vitali Kravtsov in a deadline deal for either Patrick Kane or someone with a similar skill set. The bottom line is that under the higher cap, the Rangers would be able to retain not only their core but their young studs as well for the foreseeable future.

Of course, none of this is etched in stone. Knowing the NHL's penchant for disappointing their fans, it's entirely possible that the escrow might not be fully paid off by the end of the season. In that event, Bettman has made it clear that the cap will only go up $1 million to $83.5. And if that's the case, GM's like Drury will have to, once more, make lemonade out of lemons.

It's Time for the Rangers to Move on From Ryan Reaves

Let's be honest here: If Ryan Reaves had been a Ranger during the 2020-21 season, there's no way in hell Tom Wilson would've slammed Artemi Panarin to the ice like a rag doll. There's also no way in hell the Islanders would've manhandled the Blueshirts three straight down the stretch, outscoring them a combined 13-1. The word around the NHL was that the Rangers were soft. And that was putting it mildly.

Reaves' arrival in the summer of 2021 sent a clear and unambiguous message that the days of this team being a patsy were over. From his first shift on opening night, he hit everything in his path. And on those rare occasions when a player who obviously didn't get the memo foolishly decided to take him on, he would glare back at him as if to say, "Dude, you have a choice: you can die of old age or right here and now. Your call." Fortunately, most reconsidered.

Ryan Reaves did his job. This team is respected around the league. Better still, every player in that locker room stands up for each other. When someone is challenged, the whole team responds. I haven't seen a locker room this tight and together since the days when Mark Messier donned a Rangers uniform. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned.

But the sad truth is that if you watched Reaves in the postseason, it was clear that the spirit was willing but the flesh just wasn't up to the task. He was slow, and I mean slow like 1970s Nick Fotiu slow. He was so out of position that he eventually became a defensive liability in his own zone. Frankly, I wasn't surprised that he was a healthy scratch the last couple of games in the Lightning series.

The way the game is played these days you need to be quick on the puck and possess the skills necessary to help your team win. You don't have to be a 20 or 30 goal scorer, but you have to at least keep the other team honest. Apart from his physical prowess, Reaves doesn't do a single thing that can help this team get to the next level, which at this point must be winning the Stanley Cup. He doesn't kill penalties, he's useless four on four, and don't even think about putting him out there on the power play.

With the signing of Vincent Trocheck and the soon to be, any day now, keep your shirt on extension of Kaapo Kakko, the Rangers will have less than $1 million in available cap space if they elect to go with twenty-two players on the roster: thirteen forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies. That's cutting it pretty close. To put that in perspective, last season, the Rangers had the most cap space of any playoff team in the league. That allowed Chris Drury to go shopping for Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun. I need not remind you what contributions those players made to last season's playoff drive.

Obviously, this season presented challenges for Drury that required some creativity on his part. In addition to finding a replacement for Ryan Strome and extending Kakko, there were the new contracts for Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox that were kicking in this season to the tune of $8.5 million and $9.5 million respectively. Fortunately, Henrik Lundqvist's buyout was over, so that gave him $1.5 million to play with. There was also the trade of Alex Georgiev to the Avalanche that freed up an additional $2.4 million, $1.5 of which went to Jaroslav Halak. With the Coyotes agreeing to take Patrick Nemeth's contract off his hands, Drury at least had a fighting chance of putting a good team out on the ice.

But no matter how much he sharpens his pencil, there's simply no math that allows Drury to keep Reaves on this team, not if he plans on being active at the trade deadline, which I presume he will be.

If you look at Capfriendly, the way you calculate deadline cap space is by taking the available cap space and multiplying it by 4.65. So a team with, say, $1 million in available cap space would be able to take on $4.65 million in contracts at the trade deadline. With Reaves on the team, Drury would only have about $3 million in deadline cap space. With him gone and a cheaper replacement on the roster, that amount would go up to $7 million.

Why does that matter? Let's say it's March, and Patrick Kane is still a Chicago Blackhawk, and the Rangers are flirting with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Drury places a call to Kyle Davidson to inquire what it would take to pry him away. The two agree on the compensation, but Davidson balks at retaining 50 percent of Kane's cap hit. He wants at least 60 percent and informs Drury he has two other teams that are willing to meet his demands. 60 percent of $10.5 million comes out to $6.3 million. 

Beginning to get the picture? If Drury doesn't have enough deadline cap space, Kane goes to another team, perhaps one in the Eastern Conference like, say, the Carolina Hurricanes. Imagine losing a best of seven playoff series because your opponent was able to snatch up one of the better forwards in the game. Drury cannot let that happen. If there is anyway to get Kane into a Rangers uniform that doesn't involve giving up key assets, he must do it. 

Look, Ryan Reaves has been a solid citizen in the Rangers locker room. He has done everything the organization has asked of him. But it's time to move on. In the era of the flat salary cap where every dollar counts, $1.75 million can better be spent elsewhere, like the final piece on a Stanley Cup championship.