The Rangers opened camp on Wednesday not only without center Derek Stepan, who remains at home in Wisconsin as an unsigned restricted free agent, but also without backup goaltender Martin Biron, who has returned to his home in Buffalo for what the club called “a personal situation.”
Absent a time frame regarding Biron’s potential return, the Blueshirts reached an agreement with Johan Hedberg to attend camp on a Professional Try Out. Hedberg, who turned 40 in May, spent the last three seasons in New Jersey before becoming a compliance buyout in July following the Devils’ acquisition of Cory Schneider.
Biron, who started only five out of the club’s 48 games last season, participated in Monday’s informal scrimmage at the Rangers’ practice facility but was not on the ice for Tuesday’s scrimmage. The 36-year-old netminder is entering the second and final year of his contract that carries a relatively pricey cap hit of $1.3 million.
“I’m not exactly sure what the time frame is on this,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Marty is dealing right now with a personal situation.”
As the club’s players went through physical exams that will precede Wednesday night’s team meeting, the matter of Stepan’s negotiations remained status quo, with no evident progress having been made over the last 24 hours toward settling the standoff.
The Rangers are attempting to sign Stepan to a two-year ‘bridge contract” coming out of Entry Level just as Nazem Kadri signed with the Maple Leafs on Tuesday and P.K. Subban signed with the Canadiens last year.
Kadri, who recorded the same number of goals, assists and points (18-26=44) as did Stepan last season but whose career numbers don’t match the Ranger center’s (26-37=63 in 99 games vs. 56-84=140 in 212) signed for $2.9 million per. The Blueshirts are believed to have offered less than that to Stepan.
“It would be better if he were here, no doubt about that, but that being said, the situation is not in my control,” Vigneault said. “I talked to Derek a couple of times over the summer and he knows contracts are not part of my responsibility.
“I know he wants to be here and management wants him to be here. I look forward to being his coach when he gets here. Everything will be fine,” he said. “I will take him with open arms.”