The New York Rangers had one goal this offseason which was making sure center Derek Stepan signed a cap-friendly long-term deal.
By Steven Cifuentes
This offseason Glen Sather decided it was time to take a back seat and let Jeff Gorton take over as the general manager of the New York Rangers.
Sather didn’t make it easy on Gorton, though. He left the team in a rough salary cap situation, needing to pay big money to 25-year old center Derek Stepan.
Every Rangers offseason move was made with an eye toward
locking up Stepan to a multi-year cap friendly contract.
From the trades at the draft, to only offering qualifying offers to their unrestricted free agents, Gorton always thought about that big fish in the pond.
Due to cap constraints, New York is no longer making huge headlines during the offseason. The days of announcing Scott Gomez and Chris Drury on day one of free agency are long gone.
Considering it took Gomez to leave town for Ryan McDonagh to make that day a success, I think I speak for every Rangers fan when I say I am happy those days are distant memories.
While the moves made this offseason were not sexy, they do deserve to be graded. Lets take a look at each move and see how the Rangers faired this offseason:
