Rangers Might Pay Wade Redden $5M To Spend Rest Of Season On His Couch

One of the bigger stories surrounding the Rangers since the lockout ended has been what the team will do with Wade Redden. Yes, Wade Redden. Redden, of course, signed a mammoth six-year, $39 million deal with the Rangers in July of 2008, and after two terrible seasons on Broadway the defenseman was exiled to the Connecticut Whale and hasn't been heard of since.

That is, until now.

Under the new CBA, the owners and NHLPA agreed on what is being dubbed the "Wade Redden Rule," which essentially means that teams no longer have the ability to hide free agent bust contracts like Redden in the minors. Now, anybody who is playing in the AHL and has a salary over $900,000 will count against the salary cap. That means the Rangers will have roughly a little over $5 million left of Redden's $6.5 million salary counting against the cap this season. Oh, and he also still has one more year with a $6.5 million salary left on his deal after this season.

As Bob McKenzie of TSN discusses, the Rangers have three realistic options:

"It would be nice for the Rangers to entirely get rid of Redden's cap hit this season and next but what's behind Door No. 1 isn't an attractive option. That is, give up an asset or assets (draft picks and/or prospects) as inducements to get another team with lots of cap space to take Redden in a trade.

The Rangers won't like that because they don't want to deplete any future considerations on what amounts to a housekeeping matter for them.

Door No. 2 would be to send Redden to the AHL, absorb his $5 million-plus cap hit this season, which they have room for because teams can spend to $70M this season, and then use a compliance buyout this summer to erase the problem for next season. Compliance buyouts do not count against the salary cap.

But that route is fraught with peril. If Redden were to get hurt in the AHL this season and the injury carried over to the summer, an injured player cannot be bought out. Were that to happen, the Rangers could get saddled with Redden's full $6.5M cap hit next season and under no circumstances can they allow that to occur. Next year's cap shrinks to $64.3M and it would be a disaster if the Rangers had to account for Redden's $5M+ instead of having no cap hit on a compliance buyout.

Which bring us to Door No. 3.

The only other option for the Rangers is to take Redden's cap hit this season but not play him. Not in New York. Not in the AHL. Not anywhere.

Put him in bubble wrap, cold storage and call it a year. Make sure his cheques show up on time and wait for the compliance buyout period this summer and cut all ties."

So, in all actuality, the best option is to literally pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. Let me repeat that: the best option is to pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. We should all be so lucky.

I can't see any scenario that involves Redden ever suiting up for the Rangers again. For starters, John Tortorella would likely have no use for him, even as an extra defenseman, because Redden was that bad during his time as a Ranger. Secondly, the Garden Faithful turned on Redden so badly that they even booed Jeff Woywitka at times early last year when he would touch the puck simply because he wore Redden's dreaded No. 6.

Either way, this is not the last we'll hear of the Redden situation within the next few weeks.

Rangers Back On Ice For Voluntary Skate, Del Zotto Still Awaiting New Deal

Rick Nash at today's workout at the Rangers' practice facility (courtesy of NYR Twitter).

They're back on the ice! The Rangers officially returned to the Madison Square Garden Training Facility today for a voluntary skate, which is legal now that a tentative CBA agreement has been reached.

The players who were on the ice were Brad Richards, Brian Boyle, Anton Stralman, Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Arron Asham, Derek Stepan, Mike Rupp, Ryan Callahan, Rick Nash, Taylor Pyatt, Jeff Halpern, Michael Del Zotto, Carl Hagelin and Steve Eminger. John Tortorella was also in attendance, but currently isn't allowed to skate with the team until the CBA is officially ratified.

Speaking of ratifying the new CBA, that apparently could happen by Friday with training camps officially opening as soon as Saturday. The NHL's board of governors will meet in New York on Wednesday to vote and the players will vote electronically on Thursday and Friday. The season is currently scheduled to be 48 games long and begin on Jan. 19.
 
Moving on, here are some notes from today's skate session:

- Marian Gaborik is returning to New York after being in Slovakia during the lockout and John Tortorella said that he is completely healed from shoulder surgery that repaired a torn labrum after last season. Gaborik will have no restrictions once training camp opens, which is fantastic news.

- Rick Nash said he has completely recovered from a groin strain he suffered a few months ago while playing overseas in Switzerland.

- Carl Hagelin has also fully recovered from a shoulder surgery he suffered back in November and is now said to be 100-percent healthy.

- Even though Michael Del Zotto participated in today's voluntary skate, he's still a restricted free agent without a contract. Del Zotto said his agent restarted talks on a new contract today with GM Glen Sather in hopes of quickly reaching a deal. Del Zotto wouldn't speculate on how quickly a deal could be reached, but it would certainly benefit him to sign as quickly as possible. I can't imagine how agitated John Tortorella would be if Del Zotto were to really hold out of training camp after all this.

- Speaking of Tortorella, the Rangers' head coach said that he and his coaching staff already in place on how to approach training camp with an abbreviated 48-game season. Torts also stunningly showed a gentle side when he admitted to actually missing his team. “Quite honestly, I miss them," he said. "I’m anxious to get back with them and get to work.”

- Brad Richards posted the following message for Rangers fans on his official website:

I wanted to take a minute to personally thank all of you for your patience during the last few months of negotiations.

As a player and a fan of this game, I couldn’t be happier to have hockey back. Your ongoing support and encouragement throughout the lockout has been incredible and has helped us prepared to get on the ice and play some games. I am looking forward to playing in front of all of you again, connecting with my Ranger’s family and seeing and hearing all the fans at The Garden! We will work hard to make 2013 OUR season, and reaching the ultimate goal…bringing The Cup back to New York.

Stay tuned to brichards19.com for exclusives and updates throughout the season. See you all soon! Lets go Rangers!!!

-Brad

Awesome message from Richards that will certainly get any Rangers fan fired up after reading it. Gotta love the leadership and winning attitude he has brought to this organization. I like the Richards signing more and more everyday.

Lockout Over: NHL and NHLPA Agree To New CBA

It's over. After wiping out all of training camp and the first three and a half months of the season, the NHL lockout is officially over. The outstanding news broke earlier today, when details began to trickle in that the NHL and NHLPA reached an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement late Saturday evening. Both sides have since confirmed that a tentative deal has been reached, and we officially have a 2012-2013 hockey season to look forward to.

The new CBA is a 10-year deal with an opt out clause (gotta love those, right?) after the eighth year. The players and owners agreed on a 50/50 split of revenue sharing, meaning the players took a cut of seven percent in the revenue sharing they were previously receiving. You can read more details on the new CBA as they continue to trickle in here. I'm sure we'll get more information of the next few days.

As for when the season begins? Well, hockey fans apparently won't have to wait long. The NHL has confirmed that the season will be 48 games long, and depending on how quickly the new CBA is officially approved the season could being as early as Jan. 15. A lot of it is still up in the air, though, and the Jan. 15 start date is still just being rumored. The NHL will likely release an official start date within the next week.

I'll have more on my thoughts regarding this entire negotiation process and the new agreement that was reached, but for now I'll just say it's a fantastic feeling to know we have hockey back. I thought we were bound to lose the entire season once the lockout extended into the new calendar year, and Gary Bettman did confirm a few days ago that the next step would be to cancel the remainder of the season if no agreement had been reached by Jan. 11. I think most people were prepared for the worst based on the recent string of events, and rightfully so. There had been little progress reported by both sides over the past several months, and every time it seemed like both sides were finally starting to make a breakthrough in negotiations things would fall apart every single time. To say that I was shocked when I woke up today and heard an agreement had been reached would be an understatement.

I'll also say that while I, like every hockey fan, am ecstatic that we will have an abbreviated season, it still angers me that it took this long for a deal to be reached. Neither the owners nor the players come out looking like saints after this whole ordeal, but that analysis will be saved for another day.

As for the Rangers, I expect we'll begin getting more information on players over the next few days. Henrik Lundqvist returned to New York from Sweden last week with the hope that there would be an NHL season, and a few other players have already commented on Twitter, Instagram and the Rangers' official website about how psyched they are for the season to begin. It'll be nice to finally get to see Rick Nash take the Garden ice in a Rangers uniform, and hopefully Marian Gaborik is fully healed by now from his shoulder surgery that was expected to sideline him until December at the latest.

Much more to come over the next few days. We're just getting started!

NHL Offers 50/50 Revenue Split To NHLPA In Latest CBA Proposal

We may finally have gotten the breakthrough in negotiations between the NHL owners and players that we've seemingly been waiting forever for. The NHL delivered a proposal to the players today - the first proposal offered between either side within the last 34 days - that calls for a 50-50 split in total revenue between owners and players. The NHL's original proposal made in September had them asking for a 53-47 split in revenue with the owners getting the 53-percent cut of revenue.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that both sides have approximately nine to 10 days to hammer out a new deal so that a full 82-game season could begin on Nov. 2. The specifics on how scheduling and all that would work has not yet been revealed

NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr called the NHL's latest proposal "an excellent starting point" for negotiations to move forward, but declined to comment any further beyond that. The NHLPA reportedly scheduled a conference call for later today to go over the new proposal, so it's possible we'll hear more tonight or tomorrow about whether or not they will approve this deal.

It's worth noting, however, that even though the owners have lowered their demands to getting 50-percent of the revenue, the players would still be taking a pay cut from the 57-percent of revenue they were receiving in the last CBA.

In the NHL's latest proposal, they reportedly went back to wanting three-year Entry Level contracts as opposed to five-year deals that they asked for in their first proposal. The owners also were asking for players to be in the league for 10 years before becoming unrestricted free agents in their first proposal and lowered it to eight years in this proposal (one year more than the previous CBA allowed players to become UFAs). The only one rule that remained unchanged in the NHL's latest proposal is that the maximum length of future contracts would be five years.

I've been firmly in the NHLPA's corner throughout this process after learning how absurd the owners' original proposal was, but I must say this is a gigantic step forward. Gary Bettman and the owners' original stance seemed obnoxious and unwilling to move off any of their demands after they made their first proposal, so kudos to them for being more realistic with what they're asking for in this latest offer. Dare I say it actually seems like Bettman is actually doing something to help get hockey back? It sure seems like it. I'm not going to completely applaud the owners and Bettman for softening their stance, but this is absolutely a good sign that the owners seem willing to bend on what they originally were asking for.

So now the ball (or puck) is in the players' court (or ice). Don Fehr is on record saying that the players had no problem continuing to play under terms of the previous CBA, and the NHL's latest proposal is certainly a lot closer to that than their first. One thing people have repeatedly said is that with Don Fehr involved these negotiations never go smoothly. I'm too young to remember his role in the strike when he was head of the MLBPA; I just know that these things are never officially resolved until both sides sign on the dotted lines. All I know is there finally seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Report: Rick Nash To Play In Switzerland During Lockout

Katie Strang of ESPN.com reported today that Rick Nash will be heading to Switzerland to play hockey until the NHL lockout ends, according to sources. Nash will be playing for the team Davos of the Swiss-A league, where Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks is also playing during the lockout. Neither Nash or his agent have officially confirmed that he'll be playing in Europe yet, but the writing is pretty much on the wall considering guys are jumping ship to Europe left and right since the NHL lockout became official on Sunday.

Nash, according to Strang, "wants to hit the ground running in New York once the lockout ends and feels that playing overseas will help him stay sharp."

No players on the Rangers have agreed to play elsewhere during the lockout thus far, so if Nash does indeed play in Switzerland he'll be the first.

Outside of that, there hasn't been any other news regarding the Rangers since the lockout began on Sunday. The NHLPA and the owners have not spoken since the lockout began and have no future talks scheduled, but that could reportedly change on Wednesday after the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah ends. Right now the only activity going on in the NHL are players exploring options playing in Europe and teams sending young players down to their AHL affiliates so that they can remain playing hockey within their organizations while the lockout goes on.