PHILADELPHIA — Home is where the heart is. Thirty-three million dollars kind of helps, too.
“It’s a lot of thinking to do,” Dan Girardi, who on Friday agreed to a six-year, $33 million contract extension, said following the Rangers’ 4-2 Saturday afternoon defeat in Philadelphia to the Flyers. “It’s not just, ‘Come on the ice with the team and that’s your job.’
“It’s away from the rink — where are you going to live? There’s just so much stuff that’s going on in your head. At the end of the day I knew I wanted to be a Ranger and both sides just hammered it out.”
The first-pair defenseman has a no-movement clause the first three years of the extension and a limited no-trade the first three years of the deal.
“I’m just really excited about the deal,” Girardi said. “I’m just really happy to be a Ranger and I’m hoping to finish my career here. To say you’ve played your whole career with an Original Six team, especially a team in New York is something special for me and my family.”
Girardi’s signing leaves Ryan Callahan unaccounted for as a pending free agent heading into Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. The parties remain separated by a wide gulf, though it is believed the Rangers, who have been offering the winger five years at $30 million, are prepared to go as high as six years and $36 million in order to keep the captain. Callahan has been seeking a seven-year extension worth approximately $47 million.
Coach Alain Vigneault, delighted to have Girardi’s situation resolved, is looking forward to the same result with Callahan.
“I’m very confident that the other half will get done also,” the coach said before the loss. “Dan’s a New York Ranger. He’s been a New York Ranger all his life and he’s a big part of our team. For that to get done is very positive to our group.
“Ryan’s the captain of this team. You guys all know what he brings to the table and what he brings to this team on a daily basis, so Dan got done, and I always said I’ve been optimistic and positive, and I’m positive and optimistic that this is going to get done — I hope.”
Derek Dorsett’s return bumped Dominic Moore into street clothes as a healthy scratch, Vigneault choosing to go with a fourth line of Dorsett, Brian Boyle in the middle and Dan Carcillo.
The line had moments good and bad. Carcillo, who engaged his former teammates on essentially every shift, picked up an unsportsmanlike and a 10-minute misconduct 2:05 apart midway through the second in a pair of extra-curriculars with Zac Rinaldo.
“That line has to bring energy and play hard, and for the most part I thought they did that,” Vigneault said after the match, before saying he hadn’t yet decided on a lineup for Sunday night’s match against the Bruins.
Boyle moved back to his natural center position for the first time in 26 games, since Dec. 18. He had been on the left with Moore in the middle. This was the second healthy scratch of the year for Moore, his first since Dec. 8.
“Dom’s done everything we want,” Vigneault said. “Our record has been real good, he’s been playing real well but sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and that’s not an easy one considering the way he’s been playing, but I need to see what Carcillo, Dorsett and Boyle can do together.”
Chris Kreider recorded his first goal and point in nine games, redirecting Rick Nash’s right wing drive past Steve Mason at 4:59 of the second to bring the Rangers within 2-1.
But the rookie winger missed a wide-open net on a backhand from in front on a two-on-one feed from Nash at 10:15 of the second after having appeared deficient coming back on Sean Couturier’s 2-0 breakaway goal at 4:49 of the period.
Vigneault switched up Kevin Klein and Anton Stralman as Marc Staal’s partner at different times as the match evolved. Klein, playing with Staal, was beaten to and for the puck behind the net by Claude Giroux preceding Luke Schenn’s 4-2 insurance goal at 16:15 of the third.
“I thought Anton was in a couple of situations where he was fighting it, fighting the puck,” Vigneault said.