It’s time for another edition of NHL rumours. We’re nearing the end of the 2024-25 season, but thoughts have already drifted to that of the off-season. Teams that didn’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs have already gotten to work reshaping their rosters. We’ve already seen a few trades made, but more could be coming. The work really picks up with the NHL Draft and start of free agency looming.<\/p>\n
One team that’s already gotten to work on some major roster moves is the New York Rangers.<\/a> This edition of NHL rumours deals with how they may not be done yet.<\/p>\n All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/p>\n Rumour: Arthur Staple of The Athletic said the Blueshirts may not be done<\/a> making moves to make salary cap space. Staple said the Rangers are trying to get some cap flexibility ahead of free agency this summer.<\/em><\/p>\n Analysis:<\/em> The Rangers have already done some major moves<\/a> by dealing Chris Kreider<\/a> to the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>. Kreider was a long-time fixture in the Rangers lineup, but Rangers General Manager Chris Drury<\/a> needed to make room.<\/p>\n Getting Kreider’s $6.5 million cap hit off the books was key. However, more work may need to be done. New York has $16 million cap space, but only has 16 players under contract coming into the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n Drury will probably have to do more trimming from the cap in order to get the funds to make changes. The Rangers were among the favourites to make a deep post-season run. However, the team never really got off the blocks and fell way short of expectations.<\/p>\n A number of changes<\/a> have already made made with Mike Sullivan<\/a> replacing Peter Laviolette<\/a> behind the bench<\/a>. However, Drury likely isn’t done making over the roster.<\/p>\n One name that Staple mentions is K’Andre Miller<\/a>. The former University of Wisconsin product is a restricted free agent<\/a> and one wonders what his fate will be. According to Staple, the Rangers likely won’t offer a lot of term. The Rangers could offer a two-year bridge deal at around $5 million to get Miller to unrestricted free agency. New York could also deal Miller and try filling the roster spot with someone else.<\/p>\n One wonders if Miller could be an offer sheet target. Staple stated that a team could come in and force Drury’s hand. An average cap hit of $4.68 million and $7 million would yield the Rangers a first-round and third-round choice as compensation.<\/p>\n Staple added that the Rangers have expressed interest in signing Los Angeles Kings<\/a> defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a> to bolster their blueline. However, getting more cap space would be needed.<\/p>\n The Rangers could also deal the inconsistent Alexis Lafreniere<\/a> and his $7.45 million cap hit. However, it could be a problem getting fair trade value back. We could also see names like Mika Zibanejad<\/a> and Carson Soucy<\/a> in trade rumours. However, both players have full no-trade clauses. Dealing Zibanejad and Soucy would save $8.5 million and $3.26 million, respectively. That money could net savings that the Rangers could apply to fix other areas in their lineup.<\/p>\n Main photo by: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s time for another edition of NHL rumours. We’re nearing the end of the 2024-25 season, but thoughts have already drifted to that of the off-season. Teams that didn’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs have already gotten to work reshaping their rosters. We’ve already seen a few trades made, but more could be coming. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":470398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[1657,1513,3207,371,5862],"class_list":["post-470394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rangers","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-chris-drury","tag-chris-kreider","tag-kandre-miller","tag-mika-zibanejad","tag-new-york-rangers-rumours"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470399,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470394\/revisions\/470399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n
New York Rangers May Not be Done Clearing Out Salary Cap Space<\/h3>\n
What It Means<\/h4>\n