Rangers’ stance on Kevin Hayes’ contract complicates rebuild
Barring an unforeseen development, the Rangers and Kevin Hayes appear on their way to a one-year contract that will usher the 26-year-old center to unrestricted free agency a year from now … after he is dealt at the deadline for a presumed late first-round draft pick, that is.
Slap Shots has learned there has been little traction in talks between the parties regarding a long-term agreement aimed at keeping Hayes on Broadway as one of the rebuilding linchpins. The improper Bostonian, scheduled for a salary-arbitration hearing on Thursday, is believed to be seeking deal between $5.5 million and $6 million per for five or six years. General manager Jeff Gorton doesn’t seem inclined to make that type of commitment to him.
Hayes’ request is in line with what he could expect to receive on the 2019 open market. Adam Henrique, two years older and with a résumé featuring an additional 200 games of NHL experience, recently signed a five-year extension with Anaheim worth $5.85 million per that kicks in next season. Though the two centers have produced similar overall numbers, Hayes has been slightly more productive at five-on-five (.19/.18 GPG, .26/.19 APG, .45/.37 PPG).
Hayes has all the leverage in these talks. He either gets paid on a long-term deal here or someplace else in another 12 months. Though the Rangers have a history of signing bridge contracts to forwards who file for arbitration, none who have come before (including Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller and Hayes himself) were one year away from unrestricted free agency. So this is a first.
This also creates a complication for incoming first-year NHL coach David Quinn. If Hayes does wind up on a one-year deal, that will mean the Rangers would go into the season with three of their top nine forwards — including Zuccarello and Ryan Spooner, scheduled for arbitration on Aug. 4 — as pending rental properties counting the days until the Feb. 25, 2019, trade deadline. Not great, Bob.
It is difficult to knit the fabric of a rebuild with that number of squatters holding key positions on the club. Plus, though Hayes is clearly the Rangers’ best match-up center, why would Quinn heap that responsibility on him if No. 13 isn’t going to be wearing the Blueshirt in March? How would that benefit the long-term situation?
Even if the Rangers’ best team has Hayes playing major minutes in the middle, it probably would make the most sense under this scenario to move him to the wing so both Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson get their shots at top-nine assignments at center behind Mika Zibanejad, don’t you think? Maybe that’s the way an opportunity in the middle is also created for Brett Howden.
This couldn’t have snuck up on the front office. The approximate price point for a long-term contract has been established for weeks. Once Gorton was unable to deal Hayes (or Zibanejad) by the end of June, the GM must have been able to see this coming. Honestly, another selection in the presumed 24-31 range gained in exchange for Hayes doesn’t seem to represent much of an acceleration of the rebuild.
Regardless, this is where we (and the Rangers) stand. The clock is already ticking on the trade deadline. With the Garden shaping up as an upscale halfway house.
Saturday’s signing of Brady Skjei to a fair-market six-year deal worth $5.25 million per was an important one for the Rangers, who have a history of going long-term on second contracts for defensemen — e.g., Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal.
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Rangers secure piece of their foundation with long-term deal
The Rangers had identified Brady Skjei as a key piece…
The 24-year-old had a step-back sophomore season marked by faulty decision-making and underwhelming defensive-zone play following his NHL All-Rookie 2016-17 campaign, but much of that was influenced by the chaos surrounding him. Not only did the system collapse, but the lefty had eight partners with whom he played for at least five games apiece. Stability was not a hallmark of the 2017-18 Rangers.
Skjei has the skating ability and offensive instincts to be a top-four fixture for Quinn even as his net-front play and coverage awareness need sharpening. It is likely Skjei will get top-pair minutes this season, perhaps paired with Kevin Shattenkirk.
The Rangers can envision a long-term left side consisting of Skjei and 2018 deadline acquisitions Libor Hajek and Ryan Lindgren. Skjei, who had filed for salary arbitration scheduled on Tuesday, was three years away from unrestricted eligibility, so the sides could have done a two-year bridge deal with another crack at negotiating a long-term agreement in 2020. But that is not what Gorton wanted.
No. 76 becomes the Ranger with the longest commitment on the books, his contract carrying through 2023-24. He and Zibanejad (2021-22) are the only two players with deals running past 2020-21. The Blueshirts are looking for building blocks. Unlike Hayes, Skjei has been identified as one of them.
If you read Trevor Linden’s departure from his post as Vancouver’s president of hockey operations as an indication he and owner Francesco Aquilini did not share the same vision regarding the club’s rebuild, you could not be more correct.
We’re informed that Linden, on the job for four years, was not in favor of a short-cut attempt to get into the mushy middle and perhaps contend for eighth place. The owner, on the other hand, has his sights on playoff gate receipts.
Hence, the signings of veteran free agent bottom-six forwards Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel to twin four-year, $12 million contracts, followed weeks later by the exit of Linden.
There is no clause in the collective bargaining agreement prohibiting teams from buying out a player and then re-signing him immediately. Nor is there one that forbids teams from trading a player then signing him as a free agent immediately in the wake of a buyout by the acquiring team. It seems like both issues should be addressed, but neither is. So no circumvention in the case of Brooks Orpik and the Capitals.
You can set your watch to Jarome Iginla’s Hall of Fame induction in November 2020.
Yes, a threshold has most certainly been established when a 24-year-old forward who has averaged seven goals a season for his first five years in the league gets a six-year contract worth $5.17 million a year, as did Tom Wilson.
But pretty much every team in the league would have gone even higher than that to sign the dastardly menace had Washington allowed the impactful No. 43 to hit free agency two years from now, and that isn’t even up for debate.
Enjoy the rest of the summer. See you in September.