from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

It is folly to attempt to forecast the Rangers’ 2016-17 roster and therefore the amount of cap space with which GM Jeff Gorton will have to work. We do know Boyle’s $4.5 million and Yandle’s current $2.625 million will come off. In a vacuum, that alone would leave approximately enough to re-sign Yandle (currently earning a total $5.25 million split between the Blueshirts and Coyotes).

But if Yandle — who will be the object of affection of every team that can pay the going rate in need of a puck-moving defenseman who can run a power play — remains in New York, that would necessarily mean another year in Hartford for young left-side defenseman Brady Skjei, unless the Rangers trade or buy out Marc Staal, who would be entering the second year of a six-year contract at $5.7 million per that includes a no-move clause through the 2017-18 season.

That doesn’t seem likely at all.

Now, while it is true that the Rangers could create cap space by either trading Girardi (who would have to waive his no-move clause that runs through the end of next season) or by buying him out, that wouldn’t solve the depth-chart issue given that No. 5 plays the right.

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