NHL Rumours: Update on New York Rangers Blueliner

It’s time for another round of NHL rumours. We’re nearing the March 7 trade deadline and teams are looking to make some moves. Some of these roster moves may be trades, but others may be signings. General managers have some tough choices to make how much money and how much term to give their players. One team that could be active at the trade deadline is the New York Rangers. This edition of NHL rumours deals with the future of one of their defencemen.

All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.

NHL Rumours

New York Rangers Likely to Re-Sign Young Defenceman

Rumour: Arthur Staple of The Athletic had a recent mailbag dealing with plethora of questions about the Rangers at the deadline. Staple was asked about what the Blueshirts will do with defenceman K’Andre Miller with the deadline approaching.

Analysis: Miller is a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The 25-year-old blueline is making $3.872 million in the final year of his current contract. New York is an uncertain spot as the March 7 deadline approaches.

The Rangers are two points off the Ottawa Senators for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. However, there are a number of teams still jockeying for that spot.

New York does have over $15 million of trade deadline cap space coming, so that gives general manager Chris Drury some flexibility should it decide to go all-in. However, he’ll still have to think about the future once the season wraps up.

Miller is one of a number of talented players that are up for new contracts. The Rangers already signed Alexis Lafreniere to a new deal, but players like Will Cuylle and Adam Edstrom among others need new deals.

What It Means

Some thought Miller could be on the trade block due to not having cap space. However, it seems that Ryan Lindgren could be on his way out of town. This move would free up another $4.5 million of cap space, which some of that will likely go to Miller.

Lindgren is in the last year of his deal and his future has been speculated on in previous editions of NHL rumours. It seems that Drury will likely deal the veteran blueliner at the deadline. This seems to be the course of action because the Rangers probably don’t want to let Lindgren walk away for nothing in the off-season.

However, the question then shifts to what Miller’s next deal would look like. Staple mentions that the Rangers aren’t really that comfortable in giving Miller the maximum eight years in the summertime. The Rangers writer said that a six-year contract could make both sides happy. This would give Miller some term, but also allow him to possibly score another big deal in his early 30s.

Staple also mentions that the value could be around $6.5 million per season. This could be a good value with the salary cap projected to rise up for the next few seasons. We’ll have to see what comes next for both sides as we get closer to the trade deadline.