Qualifying offers were given to eight New York Rangers, but one of those offers may eventually help the team’s salary cap situation.
New York Rangers’ forward J.T. Miller was extended a qualifying offer along with Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Dylan McIlrath, Tommy Hughes, Mat Bodie, Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen.Why is this important?
The fact that Miller is on this list may change the game.
Miller accepted a qualifying offer when his entry level contract expired at the end of last season, hence making him arbitration-eligible for the 2016-2017 season.
If an NHL team with restricted free agency expiry on the table cannot get an arbitration-eligible player signed by the opening of free agency (Friday, July 1st), the team would then automatically recieved a secondary buyout window in August.
That makes a buyout still possible should said team sign another FA and exceed cap.
Kreider, Miller, Hayes, McIlrath, Hughes, Bodie, Hrivik, Jensen issued qualifying offers by the #Rangers https://t.co/weR6eDx7Nn
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 27, 2016
Basically, if Miller goes unsigned by Friday, then the Rangers will still have the opportunity to buyout Dan Girardi in August if they need to shave cap space after acquiring another player (ahem, Steven Stamkos).
Also, teams can exceed the salary cap by no more than 10% from the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final to the last day of training camp, per the current collective bargaining agreement.
So if the Rangers do go into the red (“super cap?”) they can only reach up to $80.3M.
Things are certainly heating up in Rangerstown.
