Barring a dramatic, unforeseen development, the countdown on Nikolai Zherdev’s final 96 hours as a Ranger will commence upon the conclusion of this morning’s salary arbitration hearing between the winger and the Blueshirts that will be conducted in Toronto.
According to the CBA, the arbitrator will have 48 hours to reach a decision on the 2009-10 salary due Zherdev, who declined the Rangers’ $3.25M qualifying offer and is requesting $4.5M for the coming season.
It is unknown whether the Blueshirts, who will be represented at the hearing by assistant GM Cam Hope, have submitted a bid lower than the QO.
In any event, once the arbitrator’s decision is announced — arbitrators are permitted to award any salary in the range between the bids and most often come close to splitting the difference — the Rangers will then have another 48 hours in which to decide whether to accept the contract or walk away from it, thus making Zherdev an unrestricted free agent.
The 24-year-old winger, acquired last summer from Columbus in a trade featuring once-untouchable, young defenseman Fedor Tyutin going the other way, was the team’s Art Ross leader with 58 points, with his 23 goals, 35 assists and plus-six rating all second on the club in those respective categories.
From both the statistical viewpoint and CYA analysis, GM Glen Sather would be justified keeping Zherdev, even if he’s awarded $4M. But there is no subjective eyes-on analysis under which Zherdev is worth that investment. His inconsistency was matched only by his indifference.
He barely competed for the puck, rarely went to the front, and hardly ever seemed hungry enough to score that he’d give up his body to drive to the net.
Invisible down the stretch run in which he recorded only two assists in the season’s final seven games while going minus-three, Zherdev disintegrated in the playoffs, going pointless and minus-three in the seven-game defeat to the Caps.
The Rangers debated seriously whether to qualify Zherdev at $3.25M. There has been no debate about the wisdom of accepting him back for more than that — expect the salary to be between $3.85-4.15M — even given the team’s apparent acute goal-scoring deficiency.
The Blueshirts are at approximately $51M of the $56.8M cap. That does not include either Zherdev or Brandon Dubinsky, who remains an unsigned Group II free agent. That number also does not include a fourth center, fourth right wing or sixth defenseman.
The Post has learned the team is in conversations with Dubinsky’s representative regarding contracts of varying lengths, though neither party would characterize the state of the discussions that will accelerate upon the conclusion of Zherdev’s final 96 hours.
Earlier this month, the Blueshirts signed Group II free agent Ryan Callahan to a two-year, $4.6M contract. Dubinsky’s agent is certain to cite that deal — Dubinsky went 13-28-41 last year, Callahan 22-18-40; Dubinsky is a career 27-54-81 in 170 games, Callahan 34-25-59 in 147 games — but Callahan owned the leverage of salary arbitration rights while Dubinsky has no systemic leverage unless he can attract an offer sheet.