The New York Rangers and their restricted free agent’s seem unable to settle on deals, and their arbitration dates have been revealed.
It seems to happen to the New York Rangers a lot: Their RFA’s want one thing and the players want to see a different number next to the dollar sign.
That means arbitration hearings are scheduled.
It was announced, via the NHL Players Association‘s website, that Dylan McIlrath, Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, and J.T. Miller would all have their arbitration hearings on Jul. 21, 22, 27, and Aug. 2, respectively.
Here is more in-depth look at each of these skaters:
Next: The Blueline Enforcer
Dylan McIlrath
McIlrath is one of the bright spots the Blueshirts have in their inventory. He’s young and eager to contribute.
Last season McIlrath split time between the booth upstairs and down on the ice if one of the other defenseman when Boyle, Klein, etc. were hurt or needed rest.
But the thing with No. 6 is that his potential has been not unlocked yet, as he has the chance to have a really good season next year. It could be on Broadway or in another team’s sweater.
McIlrath is not worth a significant amount of money based on only one decent year. However, he has proven worthy enough to be given an extension to stay in New York.
He only collected four points last year, had a good Corsi For% at 50.8, and was used equally in both the offensive and defensive zones. Without looking at the offensive production, one might say that McIlrath is a solid all-around player.
My only concern with this situation is that the Rangers can lose something really good with McIlrath if they don’t settle on a deal. It would be horrible to hear that McIlrath went elsewhere because of pennies and dimes.
Next: The Horse Up Front
Chris Kreider
Here is another good one. Kreider can be a serious threat on the ice.
He has killer speed, can deliver devastating hits (can take them too), has good offensive vision, and gets into the heads of other players.
That last point is the only complaint about Kreider some may have. No. 20 doesn’t know when to stop.
And when that happens, the Rangers get the short end of the stick with bad penalties.
What fans call a “down year” for Kreider wasn’t really that down at all, still finishing with 21 goals and 43 points in 79 games. Throw in a solid Corsi For at 49.9 with a Relative Corsi For of 3.8, and all signs point to a good 2015-16 NHL season.
Fans just thought they would be witnessing another level of Chris Kreider, and, obviously, that didn’t happen. It was a similar year to the previous one.
Similarly to McIlrath, it would be horrible to see Kreider go purely due to pennies on the dollar. Then again, if the Rangers and No. 20 are on two different ends of the spectrum, one of them has to be realistic and come down.
Next: The Diamond In The Rough
Kevin Hayes
It took awhile for Hayes to get his mobility back on the ice, but when he did, he was great.
In the same boat as Kreider, fans wanted to see another level of Hayes, one that had not even been tapped yet. That obviously was not the case, but he still finished with 36 points, 14 of which were goals.
It was not a complete failure of a season for Hayes.
There have been rumors that Hayes was being shopped by the Rangers on and off throughout the season, and as free agency neared the talks began to heat up but nothing ever came of it.
If these rumors were true, I think the Rangers won’t be trying their hardest to bring Hayes back for next year. And at the same time, if they do bring him back, they would be fine with keeping him.
In reality, if the Blueshirts wanted him gone, he would be gone already.
Next: The Exciting One
J.T. Miller
Here is another fan favorite on the arbitration list.
Last year showed career highs in goals (22), assists (21), and points (43) for Miller, and a continuation of what was produced from Miller should be even greater next year.
As the other skaters on the list, Miller has a pretty good, average Corsi For % at 49.2 with a Relative of 2.7.
Without question he’s trusted more in the offensive zone at 57.8% of the time.
He is a good player and the Rangers have something good on their hands, but the club has been known to lose their “great” things for lesser things in trades of free agency.
Lets hope this won’t be the case.
In a perfect world, every fan would have their favorite player back and playing for the team. But if that happened, then it wouldn’t be fun.
In the end, I would not be upset if any of these players were traded for something better in return. Everyone has a price tag somewhere, and it’s all about finding it.
If these talks about arbitration don’t get you excited for the season, I am not sure anything will. We’re almost there.