It’s difficult to have a more productive day in the offseason without signing anybody than the Rangers and GM Glen Sather did yesterday.
For when Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Brian Boyle and Michael Sauer all filed for salary arbitration prior to the 5 p.m. deadline, it accomplished the following for the Blueshirts:
1. It removes the possibility of another team giving an offer sheet to any of these players.
2. It eliminates the specter of a protracted contract stalemate extending into training camp.
3. It triggers a second buyout round late this month or early next month.
The idea, of course, is to avoid arbitration and get each player signed to a long-term deal. That’s the plan on all sides. But salary arbitration provides a fail-safe for Sather and newly installed assistant GM Jeff Gorton in case negotiations grind to a halt.
The Rangers will have each of these four players under contract by the first week of August, unless an arbitrator’s decision is so out of whack the club chooses to walk away. That’s extremely unlikely given the easy-way-out, split-the-difference approach to the job that arbitrators routinely have taken one summer after another.
It’s fair to project that bookend foundation pieces Callahan and Dubinsky will come in at somewhere between $3.7 million and $4.4 million per season. It’s safe to say Sauer, prime for an offer sheet that inexplicably did not materialize over the last four days, will be in at between $1.5 million and $2 million. Boyle is a tougher case, coming off his first productive year in the NHL, but he likely will come in between $1.25 million and $1.75 million.
Splitting the difference — and allowing for a slight deviation in these numbers should the players negotiate long-term deals prior to arbitration — would add up to approximately $11.75 million. Adding another $1.25 million for Artem Anisimov, a restricted free agent without arbitration rights coming off Entry Level, equals an approximate $13 million.
Allowing for previous contracts signed while sliding Tim Erixon, Sean Avery and Mats Zuccarello onto the roster, the Rangers would then be left with just under $3 million in cap space to pursue a veteran defenseman or make another move. That number could escalate by $3.33 million if the Blueshirts decide to buy out the final year of Wojtek Wolski’s contract.
The decision on Wolski that for cap purposes must be reached this month — if it hasn’t been already — is essentially whether the Rangers project the 25-year-old as a sure-thing top-six forward. If so, the team will bear the $3.8 million cap hit (and $4 million salary). If not, if there is skepticism, then expect a buyout that will result in a total cap charge of $467,000.
It’s believed Sather will be patient in his hunt for a defenseman, and indeed may wait until arbitration, the second round of buyouts, and the Kings’ signing of restricted free agent Drew Doughty, to determine who might become available via a trade.
Regardless, there are no worries about contract issues spilling into training camp. The four players filing for arbitration yesterday guaranteed that. Unless Derek Jeter had six hits last night in Cleveland, it’s hard to have a better July 5 than Sather did by doing nothing.