The clock is ticking on both Derek Stepan and the Rangers, as the club’s 2012-13 leading scorer and presumptive first-line center remains an unsigned restricted free agent with the season opener nine nights away in Phoenix on Oct. 3.
The Post has learned little progress has been made in the standoff, though there has been communication of late between the parties. As previously reported, Stepan is seeking a deal in the neighborhood of $7 million over two years while the Rangers have offered approximately $6 million.
Frustrated by the inability to close the deal despite an existing gap of no more than a few hundred thousand dollars a year, general manager Glen Sather has adopted the traditional approach of management in a dispute with labor by portraying the representative, rather than the player, as the villain in control of the process.
Sather fired a verbal volley at agent Matt Oates and his client in an interview that aired on MSG during the Rangers’ 4-1 preseason defeat in Calgary on Monday night.
“It’s unfortunate that Derek has decided to listen to his agent,” Sather told MSG’s John Giannone. “I hope he starts to get a little wiser about his decision.”
Oates, who has kept a low profile throughout the negotiations, did not respond to a pair of email requests for a response, choosing to remain silent rather than escalate hostilities. The agent has been mum throughout the process, other than for an interview with The Post on Sept. 12.
The Rangers are squeezed under the cap and would be boxed in if a competing team came in with an offer sheet for Stepan in the $5 million range (six years, $30 million), but there is currently no expectation one will be forthcoming.
Absent an offer sheet, Stepan has essentially no systemic leverage available to him through the collective bargaining agreement. Indeed, if he does not sign by Dec. 1, he will be ineligible to play in the NHL this season. So the clock is already ticking on the 23-year-old, who all but certainly needs to play in order to nail down a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
“I don’t think Derek is going to let this linger too long,” Sather said. “I don’t think he’s big enough of a fool [to miss the season].”
Time, however, is also an issue for the Rangers, who will play at least the first few weeks of the season without rehabbing top-six wingers Ryan Callahan and Carl Hagelin, and now face the prospect of starting the year without their No. 1 center as well.
Stepan was the club’s most effective center last season with Rick Nash. Coach Alain Vigneault has had Nash skating on a unit with Brad Richards throughout camp, but they have turned in dismal performances — individually and as a pair — in two exhibition games, Sept. 15 against the Devils and Monday against the Flames.
Hence, the mounting sense of frustration within the front office, as manifested by Sather’s words to the MSG microphone.