Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Breaking News: Rangers, Ryan Callahan Agree To 3-Year Deal (Updated)




















The Rangers have confirmed on Twitter that they have signed Ryan Callahan to a new deal. Nick Kypreos is reporting that it is a 3-year deal worth $13 million, which comes out to around $4.33 million per season. Callahan and the Rangers were scheduled to have their arbitration hearing tomorrow, but both sides were able to hammer out a new deal. Callahan was the final RFA the Rangers had to sign. It looks like the roster is essentially filled out now with the exception of a few minor moves that may happen between now and when camp opens.

Read more, including quotes from Callahan on his new deal, by clicking the link to this post above.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rangers Sign Brandon Dubinsky To 4-Year Deal, Avoid Arbitration

Gotta love the 'stache!















 Two down, one to go. After it was all but seemingly certain that the Rangers and Brandon Dubinsky were headed towards their 9 a.m. arbitration hearing this morning in Toronto, the Rangers and Dubinsky came to terms on a new 4-year, $16.8 million contract to keep the Rangers' homegrown fan favorite in blue. After locking up Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky within the last week, Ryan Callahan is now the only remaining RFA on the Rangers' roster.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Report: Dubinsky Expected To Go To Arbitration This Thursday





















You just had to know that after how great this offseason seemed to be going, something would go wrong. Such is the life of being a Rangers fan, of course. This morning, Larry Brooks Tweeted that Brandon Dubinsky and the Rangers are still far apart on a new long-term contract and that Dubinsky and the Rangers will head to arbitration on Thursday "unless there's a dynamic shift" in the negotiations. Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News essentially confirmed Brooks' report, and even quoted an unnamed Rangers source who said the holdup for a new deal is that Dubinsky "is looking for a longer term."

Read more below.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Rangers Re-Sign Brian Boyle; JT Miller To Play In OHL



























Sure enough, one day after I posted that there was no news going on regarding the Rangers, the team announced today that it has re-signed Brian Boyle to a 3-year, $5.1 million deal, which comes out to $1.7 million per season. The terms of the deal were confirmed by Larry Brooks on Twitter.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

No News Is Good News?






















Not a lot of news to pass along from the Rangers, or any other team in the NHL for that matter. The Rangers made their big splash on July 2nd and now it seems like all that's left to do is work on re-signing restricted free agents Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky before their arbitration hearings. After those three are re-signed I suspect Glen Sather will make some depth signings and bring in some veterans that he can stash away in the AHL as insurance for injuries and such over the long haul of the season.

Depending on how much cap space is left after Boyle, Callahan and Dubinsky sign, I also think there's a distinct possiblity Sather could go out and sign a veteran d-man to fit that 6th/7th role as insurance in case the Rangers feel Del Zotto or Erixon need some more AHL seasoning. At the very least, expect to see some tryout signings as we get closer to the opening of training camp of vets like Garnet Exelby and Alex Semenov, who were brought in the previous two seasons as long shots to win roster spots.

Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky both visited the Rangers Youth Hockey Camp earlier this week and gave interviews over at NewYorkRangers.com, and both guys certainly sound like they expect to be back (and why wouldn't they?). Right now, I think it's just a matter of playing the waiting game until the Rangers officially re-sign their remaining RFAs.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Artem Anisimov, Michael Sauer Agree To New Deals












The New York Rangers announced yesterday that the team has agreed to new contracts with both Artem Anisimov and Michael Sauer. Each player signed a 2-year deal and will become restricted free agents following the 2012-2013 season.

According to CapGeek.com, Anisimov will earn $1.875 million in each year of his new deal, while Sauer will earn $1.25 million each year.

You can read the official press releases the Rangers sent out here for Anisimov and here for Sauer.

That leaves Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky as the only remaining restricted free agents on the NHL roster.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Recap Of Brad Richards Interview On WFAN, Will Wear No. 19

















Brad Richards was on WFAN this morning with Sid Rosenberg, who is a die-hard New York Rangers fan, and by pure coincidence I was able to catch the interview in its entirety in my car. Here's a recap of some of the highlights of what Richards had to say:

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Michael Sauer Files For Arbitration, Too





















To update my previous post, Michael Sauer has joined Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle in filing for arbitration today. This ensures that none of those guys will be signed to offer sheets and gives Glen Sather more time to work out new deals with them.

Also, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported this morning that Jeff Gorton was named Assistant GM of the Rangers, which led to some confusion amongst fans. Apparently, he was already with the organization and is simply just getting a title change and will be taking over Cam Hope's position with the team, who stepped down a few weeks ago. Mark Messier and Jim Schoenfeld still have the same positions with the team, so nothing changes.

Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Brian Boyle To File For Arbitration



















Word comes from Andrew Gross on Twitter that Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Brian Boyle will file for arbitration before the 5:00 p.m. deadline later today. Glen Sather still seemed confident a few days ago that he would be able to reach deals with all of his RFAs before heading to any arbitration hearings, so there's no need to worry just yet Rangers fans. Filing arbitration is actually a good thing because it prevents other teams from being able to sign restricted free agents to an offer sheet and gives the team and players more time to work on a deal with each other exclusively.

Read more...

Report: No Press Conference To Welcome Brad Richards To Rangers














Just got some minor news from Jim Cerny on Twitter, who runs NewYorkRangers.com. He told me on Twitter that the Rangers don't have any plans for a press conference to officially welcome Brad Richards to the team, but that he expects to talk to Richards personally sometime tomorrow when he arrives in town.

It's somewhat disappointing news to me that there won't be a press conference considering how big the signing is for the team. Then again, the last big press conference the Rangers had was for Chris Drury and Scott Gomez and we all know how that turned out...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Breakdown Of Brad Richards' Contract, Includes No-Movement Clause

Original Image Credit Goes To Dave Lozo of NHL.com














Gord Miller at TSN Tweeted the contract numbers for Brad Richards' new deal with the Rangers. Richards will make $12 million in 2011-2012, $12 million in 2012-2013, $9 million in 2013-2014, $8.5 million in 2014-2015, $8.5 million in 2015-2016, $7 million in 2016-2017, $1 million in 2017-2018, $1 million in 2018-2019 and $1 million in 2019-2020. Richards also received a $10 million signing bonus plus $2 million of his actual salary in the first year of his contract, and an $8 million signing bonus plus a $4 million base salary in the second year. Larry Brooks also Tweeted last night that Richards' contract includes a no-movement clause for the entire duration of his contract.

Read more...

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Breaking News: Rangers Sign Brad Richards To 9-Year, $60 Million Deal
















On the second day of free agency, the Rangers have officially landed their No. 1 target - Brad Richards is now a New York Ranger. The talented center agreed to a blockbuster 9-year, $60 million deal, which averages out to about $6.67 million per year. The Rangers beat out the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings in the Richards Sweepstakes, who were the other top suitors for Richards.