A brand new administration, unbridled expectations, and plenty of cap space to burn.
Should be a fun (terrifying) summer!
Point of order: right now I project Blackwell & Rooney to be exposed purely bc of exposure requirements (it’s essentially exposing 2 of Blackwell/Rooney/Strome).
However this can *easily* change if DiGiuseppe, Gauthier, or Howden sign an extension of any sort prior to expansion.
Right on schedule.
Rangers are now in a position to protect Colin Blackwell (with Kevin Rooney and Brett Howden as the 2x required forward exposures).
At face value I would read into this more as an expansion draft angleshoot than a proclamation of Howden’s role going forward.
It’s a very fine line. I do think there’s something to be said about the idea of keeping both and then tying over tough decisions until summer 2024… but by October 2022 this would be ~75% of the cap
Basically to generalize it: acquiring Eichel and re-signing Zibanejad is attainable. But then you’re locked into having to probably get rid of Kreider or Trouba in summer 2024 (when their full NMCs revert to partial NTCs). And even then NY must bridge all the kids other than Fox.
To be clear: getting Kreider or Trouba off the books as soon as they become ‘tradable’ in 2024 is something you’d be locked into, but it also may not be possible to get them 100% off (need to retain salary, etc). Look at Tyler Johnson clearing waivers last offseason.
I am all for cutting youngsters some slack... and I'm all for reigning in relativity for #NYR having a center crisis on their hands [with the Chytil injury...]
but Brett Howden has 0 goals, as a center, in #NYR's last 21 games despite nearly 5 hours(!) of total icetime.
#NYR will have every opportunity to improve this summer. They have the cap room to do whatever they want. They could parlay their sound expansion draft status to maybe even get a LD @ a friendly rate. They may have 'rebuild's over!' license for a blockbuster trade. Anything goes.
Until then: they're a cap-crunched, injury-battered team. Between Mika (missing training camp... lingering covid effects??) & Chytil (injury) they're starving up the middle. They have a ghost of a 3rd D pair, even when full healthy. They're the youngest team in the NHL by a mile.
I've said it before but I think the next 18 months have all the potential in the world to be as day-and-night a transition as the 2010-11 & 2011-12 NYR seasons were.
Even semi-competently working around the emerging bright spots is a helluva runway for takeoff.