Derek Stepan committed to the Rangers into the next decade on Monday morning, while savvy first-year general manager Jeff Gorton managed to pay his young American center big bucks without breaking the Blueshirts’ bank.
Stepan, 25, agent Matt Oates and Gorton struck an 11th-hour deal in Toronto prior to a scheduled 9 a.m. arbitration hearing for the restricted free agent and agreed on a six-year, $39 million deal ($6.5 annual salary cap hit), according to a source, keeping Stepan in the Big Apple through the 2020-21 season.
“It went all the way to the door, but I think Jeff did a great job – there wasn’t any bad blood through the whole thing,” Stepan said in a late morning conference call. “It always seemed that we were close. … It went the way I expected it to and it went the way that I wanted it to. Hats off to him and to my agent.”
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Stepan said the contract includes a full no-trade clause in years three and four and a 15-team limited no-trade clause for years five and six. He is not eligible for a no-trade clause in years one and two, which would have been restricted free agency years.
Assuming a roster of 22 players on opening night, Gorton has assembled a team with a projected payroll of approximately $70.599 million, or $801,000 under the NHL’s $71.4 million salary cap. He had entered Stepan’s negotiations with a $64.1 million payroll for 21 players and $7.3 million to work with.
Stepan’s contract was Gorton’s greatest and final pressing responsibility in his first offseason as GM. Now that it’s done, the next step is for the Rangers to take the ice for training camp in September.
Stepan, a Minnesota product and 2008 Rangers second-round pick out of the University of Wisconsin, is an alternate captain and the team’s NHL players’ association representative. He has 89 goals and 252 points in 362 career regular season games, as well as 15 goals and 41 points in 80 career playoff games, all with the Rangers since breaking into the league in 2010-11.
He is valuable and versatile as a featured, top player on even strength, the power play, and the penalty kill. He is durable: Last season’s preseason broken leg forced him to miss regular season games for the first time in his five-year career.
Most recently and importantly, though, he stepped forward as one of the Rangers’ top performers in this past year’s playoffs, culminating in scoring the overtime goal in Game 7 of the second round to eliminate Washington.
“You … want players who can play big in the big moments on the biggest stage, and there is no bigger stage than New York City,” Gorton told the Rangers’ website Monday afternoon. “Derek has proven he can do that.”
Monday’s theme was that this round of negotiations went much smoother than Stepan’s 2013 talks, when Stepan held out through Alain Vigneault’s first training camp, GM Glen Sather cautioned that Stepan couldn’t be “a big enough fool” to sit out a full year, and Stepan agreed to a two-year, $6.15 million contract on Day 16 of camp but missed the entire preseason schedule.
“It was a lot easier and a lot smoother (this time), that’s for sure,” Stepan said Monday. “There were not many discussions about a shorter-term deal or even arbitration.
The whole time (it) was (about) trying to get a long-term deal done because this is where we (Stepan and his family) want to be.”
Approaching arbitration, Stepan had requested a one-year, $7.25 million contract, while the Rangers had asked for a one-year, $5.2 million award. Arbitration is based on comparable contracts, and Stepan had a strong argument to receive more than $7 million after his less accomplished peer, Buffalo center Ryan O’Reilly, signed a deal worth $7.25 million annual with the Sabres earlier this summer.
Gorton conducted his business this offseason, however, with his eye on Stepan’s contract the entire time. So he was able to pay Stepan slightly above the middle ground of the player’s and team’s offers ($6.225 per year would have been an even compromise) and retain room under the cap.
Gorton traded Carl Hagelin to Anaheim because the Swede was going to command even more than his previous $2.25 million annual salary, and acquired Emerson Etem, who will make just $850,000 on his one-year qualifying offer. The GM also parted ways with the retired Martin St. Louis, who was making $5.625 million.
He then signed restricted free agent forward J.T. Miller, 22, to only a one-year qualifying offer of $874,000, avoiding a two-year contract that would have carried a higher annual salary.
Stepan now carries the third-highest annual salary on the roster, behind Henrik Lundqvist ($8.5 million) and Rick Nash ($7.8 million). In order to continue earning his keep, the number Stepan most needs to improve is his mark on faceoffs.
Stepan won just 44.1% of his draws last season. Only Nashville’s Mike Ribeiro (43.2%) ranked lower among those in the NHL’s top 30 for faceoff attempts.
SHAPING THE 2015-16 RANGERS
Alain Vigneault would cringe at an opening day roster projection in July, but for purposes of understanding the Rangers’ composition and salary cap crunch, here is an example of a possible/likely 22-man October roster for the 2015-16 Rangers, organized by salary cap hit from highest to lowest within each position:
FORWARDS (13): Rick Nash ($7.8 million), Derek Stepan ($6.5 million), Derick Brassard ($5.5 million), Mats Zuccarello ($4.5 million), Chris Kreider ($2.475 million), Dominic Moore ($1.5 million), Tanner Glass ($1.45 million), Viktor Stalberg ($1.1 million), Jesper Fast ($950K), Kevin Hayes ($900K), J.T. Miller ($874K), Emerson Etem ($850K), Oscar Lindberg ($650K).
DEFENSEMEN (seven): Marc Staal ($5.7 million), Dan Girardi ($5.5 million), Ryan McDonagh ($4.7 million), Dan Boyle ($4.5 million), Kevin Klein ($2.9 million), Keith Yandle ($2.625 million), Raphael Diaz ($700K).
GOALIES (two): Henrik Lundqvist ($8.5 million), Antti Raanta ($800K)
BONUS CARRYOVER CHARGE: Ex-Ranger Anthony Duclair ($125K)
PROJECTED CAP TOTAL: $71.4 million NHL salary cap ceiling, minus Rangers’ roster at $70.599 million, leaves approximate remaining cap space of $801K.
