With free agency beginning on Sunday, July 1, the New York Rangers offered extended qualifying offers to all 10 of the restricted free agents on Monday.
The New York Rangers extended qualifying offers to all 10 of their restricted free agents on Monday. Players who are no longer considered entry-level but do not qualify as unrestricted free agents become restricted free agents when their contracts expire.
Defenseman Chris Bigras, defenseman John Gilmour, forward Steven Fogarty, forward Kevin Hayes, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, forward Cristoval “Boo” Nieves, defenseman Rob O’Gara, defenseman Brady Skjei, forward Ryan Spooner, and forward Jimmy Vesey are the players that were given qualifying offers.
Qualifying offers are made so that the Rangers are able to retain negotiating rights with each player. The rules to be offered a qualifying offer are:
- A qualifying offer is an official Standard Player Contract (SPC) offer which shall be one year in length, and which can be subject to salary arbitration should the player be eligible.
- Submitting a Qualifying Offers gives the prior club the right of first refusal to match any offer sheet submitted, or receive draft pick compensation.
- If the player rejects the qualifying offer, they remain an RFA and their rights are retained by the team.
- If a player does not receive a qualifying offer, the player becomes a UFA.
All of the restricted free agents are arbitration eligible with the exception of defenseman Chris Bigras.
Namestnikov, Spooner, Bigras and O’Gara were all acquired by the Rangers last February prior to the NHL trade deadline. Hayes, Skjei, “Boo” Nieves and Vesey have been with the Rangers over the past few seasons. Fogarty was the Rangers third-round draft pick in the 2011 NHL Draft.
The Rangers currently have $29,450,556 projected cap space available, per Cap Friendly. The qualifying offer is calculated from the players base salary (NHL salary minus signing bonus) and at a minimum must meet the season’s minimum salary requirements.
