The contract negotiations for Rangers winger Brandon Prust begin with the challenge of putting a number on the traits that are hardest to quantify.
Prust, the hard-nosed and gritty player who did all the small things for a detail-oriented team, will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career if the Rangers can’t get him signed before July 1.
After losing to the Devils in six games in the Eastern Conference finals, Prust cleared out his locker at the Rangers’ practice facility in Westchester yesterday and let fire the first pointed assessment of his future prospects.
“Maybe I’m little bit more valuable than I think I am,” Prust said with a smile.
Coach John Tortorella tried to be coy, but started by saying, “I love the guy, the intangible he brings, and he’s done a lot.”
Tortorella eventually evened out his tone.
“I think he’s had an up-and-down year,” he said. “For a while there, he wasn’t getting a lot of minutes and when he got some minutes, it was an inconsistent year. But as far as the intangible and what he does for our locker room, he’s a big piece to the puzzle.”
Prust made it clear he wants to stay, but the question remains how much of a discount, if any, he would give to the Rangers. He made $800,000 this season, and the significant raise on a multi-year deal he would draw from the open market is most likely more than what the Rangers are willing to pay.
“Money is a factor, but it’s not the biggest factor for me,” Prust said. “Obviously a good situation is what I’m looking for the most and just being a part — a big part — of a winning team. That’s something we have here, and I want to be a big part of the team.”
Finishing 82 regular-season games with 17 points (five goals and 12 assists), Prust showed his worth mostly as a physical presence and valuable penalty killer. He scored one goal in 19 playoff games, missing one game because of a suspension resulting from an elbow to the back of Anton Volchenkov’s head in Game 3 of the conference finals.
“Obviously as a hockey player, you look at free agency as a big time in your life,” said Prust, who needs surgery to repair a torn tendon in the ring finger of his left hand as a result of a fight with the Senators’ Zenon Konopka on Jan. 12.
“It’s a big decision,” he said. “Definitely looking forward to it. Right now, I’m not really worried about it, but I’m sure I will in the next few weeks.”