New York Rangers Need Major Roster Shakeup

SHARE TWEET COMMENTRyan O’Rielly and the Buffalo Sabers have ruined New York Rangers plan for Derek Stepan’s next contract, so a roster shakeup is needed.By Steven CifuentesThe Twitter-world of the New York Rangers exploded like a Jason Pierre-Paul firework last week when the Buffalo Sabres signed Ryan O’Reilly to a 7-year, $52.5 million contract extension. Rangers fans everywhere wondered, and rightfully so, what does this do to the Rangers chances of signing Restricted Free Agent Derek Stepan?The Rangers currently sit at $10.8 million dollars under the current salary cap and have restricted free agents Derek Stepan, Emerson Etem, JT Miller and Jasper Fast to sign.With the new bar set by the Buffalo Sabres for 50-60 point centermen, Stepan is looking to take up most of that $10.8 million in cap space.Stepan is superior to Ryan O’Reilly in almost every category. Throw in Stepan’s solid playoff history and you can see why the Rangers are in cap hell.Jeff Gorton’s first task as Rangers GM is a daunting one. He has to make some moves to free up cap space so the Rangers can get their top center signed and field a full roster.Here’s the rest of the task-list Gorton needs to meet:View image | gettyimages.comSign Emerson Etem, JT Miller and Jasper Fast close to their current qualifying offers.The famous Glen Sather 2-year bridge deal won’t work this year with the cap-crunch the Rangers find themselves in.In order to have cap flexibility these players must come in at their qualifying offers, or slightly above. This will especially be the case to keep Mr. Stepan on Broadway.View image | gettyimages.comThis will come as music too many fans ears, Jeff Gorton must find a taker for the last 2 years of Tanner Glass’s contract.If the Philadelphia Flyers can get a 3rd Round pick for Zac Rinaldo, the New York Rangers can get a 7th round pick from a team like Arizona that is looking for cheap players to reach the cap floor.Tanner Glass actually played decent in the playoffs, but there is no need to lose a player like Derek Stepan when a guy like Tanner Glass is taking up $1.45 million in cap space.View image | gettyimages.comTrade Kevin Klein For Draft PicksKevin Klein is a nice player to have, a solid stay at home defensemen that has a good shot from the blue line when needed.Don’t fool yourself New York Rangers fans, those great offensive numbers last year were not the norm. Klein is a luxury – one that should not cost $2.9 million a year.View image | gettyimages.comGive The Kids A ChanceBrady Skjei needs to be given a legitimate shot to make this team as a 6th defenseman. All reports out of prospects camp is this kid can skate well enough to thrive in the Rangers current system.Oscar Lindberg has been knocking on the NHL door for a couple seasons now. It is time to see what the responsible two-way faceoff machine can do when given a regular shift in the NHL.Teams at the cap ceiling have to give kids a chance to fill out the bottom of the active roster.View image | gettyimages.comSign Derek Stepan At All CostsIt is contracts like Ryan O’Reilly’s that skew the players’ salary scale up and kill teams like the New York Rangers with a core of solid, but not superstar players. Derek Stepan is going to get paid like a star for solid player production.If you look to trade Stepan, or don’t resign him to the arbitration deal, you might as well tear it down and start a mini-rebuild.Derek Stepan is a core player that must be introduced on opening night with a shiny new contract.Thanks Buffalo, we will take it out on you on the ice. SHARE TWEET COMMENTgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1551559410827-0'); });