from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Friday’s signing of Pavel Buchnevich to a two-year deal for $3.25 million per season, which represents an equitable agreement for both parties, triggered the clock under which buyouts can be conducted for 48 hours beginning late Monday afternoon.

And because the Rangers are a projected $4.155 million over the cap with a 23-man shadow roster — which assumes Brendan Smith and Matt Beleskey will be in AHL Hartford; entry-level freshmen Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox and Libor Hajek will start in New York; and yet unsigned restricted free agents Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux will play for their respective one-year, $874,125 qualifiers because they won’t have any other choice if they want to skate in the NHL this season — buying out Shattenkirk’s $6.65 million hit should be an open-and-shut case.

The move would clear $5.17 million of space for this season — which would give the Rangers a little over $1.1 million with which to maneuver, pending further transactions. Yes, the buyout of the 30-year-old defenseman, whose 2017 training camp injury has all but fatally compromised his game, would burden the club with $1.43 million in dead space for 2021-22 and 2022-23. And yes, adding dead space down the road is generally bad business for a rebuilding operation, but you know what is much, much worse business?

Trading one of your best players in order to comply with the cap while keeping a guy who probably wouldn’t dress every night and whose role would be limited when he did. That’s what.

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