Well if starting with players some teams will want Kreider, Strome and Namestnikov are your best options.

However if you want to offload some of your scrubs then you gotta pay up. Moving Shatty, Staal or Smith aren't going to be cheap as they all have a couple of years left and cap space is scarce in many teams.

Honestly, I think I would rather just Buyout Smith and Staal and not pay sweeteners to offload them. I think Shatty could have a bounce back year if healthy

I don’t wanna see Kreider traded but I understand the logic behind it. I don’t wanna pay him 7x7 or more and that’s what he’s gonna want

I think if Strome centers Breadman for a good portion of the season it could really raise his trade deadline stock. I would hold off trading him til then

Buy outs are more expensive than eating 50% salary for two years because they stay on the book for 4 years. They still have to pay Girardi for 4 more years. If they buy out Shatty, the cap hit in year 2 is over $6 million, so no way they do that. He is the most tradeable too. If they buy out anyone, it will be Smith. I personally would look to see what I could get for Kreider because let's face facts, there is no way they will pay him anywhere near what Boston gave Hayes, and that's what Kreider will want. If they can get a 1st round pick, and a good prospect, then I say pull the trigger. Moving him and buying out Smith solves all the cap issues, even with paying Trouba $7.5/year. Not an ideal thing, but better than costly buy outs or trading young kids in my opinion.

You've assumed that Trouba wants to sign long term. He's done everything to earn his UFA right at the earliest possible time, he just might be a be a 6m for one year player.
So many teams are close to the cap either trading Kreider or Namestikov without taking cap back in a trade is difficult. Not wishing the Staal or Smith any bad luck, but maybe a injury during summer work outs would be "cap friendly" for the Rangers

I'm not sure about Shatty making a come back but I agree with your stance on Kreider. He was one assist off his best season to date. Having to move him for cap space would suck. As a Detroit fan I also understand just wanting to make Smith go away.

Just because Toronto got away this dirtbaggery doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.



Christ that’s is like buying a brand new Ferrari and putting diesel gas into it and then crashing it into a Tim Hortons. Bread with Strome..... F that

Don’t worry. Trouba has already stated that he wishes to stay long term in Ny.

Oh, my god, do you believe what players, GMs or coaches say to media? What else is he going to say. "I'm only going to be a Ranger for a year and then explore my UFA options."
Sure he going to listen to any Ranger offers this summer and maybe for full calendar year, and yes he might sign long term as Ranger. But he his summer proclamation just takes the pressure off him and Rangers when media and social media talk about his upcoming UFA status.

His wife is a doctor, and NY is a good place for her to do well on her medical career. He said that is part of why he intends on staying in NY. It also has been stated that he plans on signing with NY before the arbitration date.
One last thing, he wouldn’t say that he’s only going to be a Ranger for a year and then explore his UFA options. He could say that he plans on considering all his options when signing a contract that will determine the future of his career.

Virtually all RFAs sign with their current teams, unless there is an offer sheet, so his signing/ playing as NYR in 2019/20 is almost a given. So really he didn't say anything that was already known. Certainly he is going to lots of options next summer if he wants if wants wait 12 months before signing as a UFA.

With the contracts as listed, they need to clear 5M:
1. Buyout Smith- saves 3.379 in cap hit in 2019
2. Waive Strome- if buried in Hartford, saves 1.075M in 2019 cap hit
Note: this is worst case for Strome- of course, if a trade is available- make the trade...or if he is plucked off waivers then they also get the full 3.1M 2019 cap relief
3. With Smith bought out and Strome buried (in the case no trade could be worked out and nobody wanted him from waivers)- still need about 1/2 M in cap relief for 2019/20:
Trade Fast in a fair value trade w/ no retention- gives 1.85M in addl cap relief for 2019/20

The team is projected to have $27mil+ in cap space next season with no real "need to" RFA's/UFA's to qualify/re-sign & $56mil+ the following season. Buying out Smith , dealing Namestnikov and/or Strome this season & giving Kreider (who has a skill set they can't replace internally or externally) $7mil for 7 yrs, starting next season, isn't going to handicap the team that much. With potentially 8 or more players on entry level deals in the lineup this year, plus more next year & 16 draft picks for the next 2 drafts, they should have plenty of cap space & assets to continue to add to the roster as necessary.

Watching what Gorton has been doing the last two years leads me to believe he has no intention of paying a 29 year old Kreider $7m for 7 years. Nothing against Kreider, I like him and would love to keep him, but being realistic about what Gorton is doing tells me he will be traded, before this season OR at the trade deadline.

Yep. Agreed. I think Names gets traded and Smith bought out before the season starts. And then at the deadline.... whether we are in a playoff spot or not JG moves Kreider then. He’ll get a boatload of assets especially if he retains 50% like he did with Nash. Could you imagine if we actually made the playoffs.. got the youngsters some playoff experience AND turned around and had multiple 1sts and 2nds again at next years draft

That would be awesome.