Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Can The New York Rangers Afford Derek Stepan?

07/06/2015 at 11:57am EDT

from Sean Hartnett of CBSNewYork,

Initially, it was thought that the Rangers would be able to lock their 25-year-old alternate captain into a long-term deal slightly above $6 million annually. Buffalo giving a comparable center in O’Reilly crazy money raises Stepan’s asking price.

Stepan is an upward-trending star who is just breaking into his prime years. He has averaged 0.78 points per game over the past three seasons and has scored his share of memorable playoff goals. The question is: How far do the Rangers go to satisfy Stepan?

He is definitely worth between $6 and $6.5 million million per year. Anything above $6.5 million is an overpayment. He’s not worth Nicklas Backstrom or Anze Kopitar money. A demand of a long-term deal above $7 million AAV could force the Rangers to do the unthinkable — trade Stepan away.

Finding takers for third-pair defenseman Kevin Klein (three years, $2.9 million AAV) and/or fourth-line winger Tanner Glass (two years, $1.45 million AAV) could help alleviate the cap squeeze. Demoting Glass to the minors would force the Rangers to carry $500,000 in dead cap space, but would free up $950,000 of cap room.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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