Anyone who follows the Rangers knows how good this team has been for the past few years. They have won divisions, been to 3 of the last 4 conference finals, and a Stanley Cup Final just last year, but they haven't had that extra something to bring the Cup back to New York. The Rangers have been successful while having a somewhat revolving door around their core players of Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Carl Hagelin, and Cam Talbot. The Rangers had already traded ex-captain Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and a few other homegrown Rangers to get bigname players to add while working within the cap system. This Summer the Rangers already traded Cam Talbot who deserved to be a starter somewhere for picks, and Carl Hagelin for Emerson Etem to save somewhere near $2 and 1/2 million this year. The cap makes you pick and choose who you can keep longterm and who is just for a year or two.

The biggest questionmark this summer for Jeff Gorton is what to do with Derek Stepan. Stepan has been a great Ranger and focal point as the 1st or 2nd line center for a successful team that is again one of the favorites to make a solid run for the Cup. While other teams have been out there this summer improving or losing key players, the Rangers have just been making the little changes needed to keep the core and get them over the top finally. The Rangers have seen Carl Hagelin come into his own and should earn over $3 million per season and couldn't fit into the Rangers cap number earning that amount as a 3rd liner and still be able to afford Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes for the future. So a very big decision has already been made. Now, what will Gorton do to keep Stepan? New General Manager Jeff Gorton has already stated that during the end of the season interviews, that they are in the ballpark with all this summers free agents. Gorton has already signed Brandon Halverson and Marek Hrivik while Carl Klingberg has signed in the KHL. Ryan Haggerty was traded to Chicago for new backup goalie Antti Raanta. Derek Stepan and the Rangers are headed for arbitration on July 27th for what will most likely be a 2 year contract. The Rangers can still come to an agreement with Stepan on a contract before then or trade his rights before the hearing date. Once the hearing is done, the Rangers can either agree and sign Stepan for the hearing amount or decline (like they did in the Zherdev case) and then Stepan would be a unrestricted free agent. If the Ranger agree to the hearing amount, they can not trade him for the 1st year of the extension. BIG decision to make that will have a trickle down affect throughout the whole organization.

Besides the Stepan hearing and the trade of Hagelin, the Rangers have signed Victor Stralberg who is a nice pickup for the 3rd line at only a 1 year deal at $1.1 mil for this upcoming season. It seems that Gorton has his gameplan together and it would seem that a dman has to be moved. Kevin Klein is talked about alot but Gorton can pull a fast one if he has something fun up his sleeve. Gorton can trade for a player on the arbitration list, which would make the Rangers having 2 players in arbitration. If the Rangers were to have 2 players on arbitration, they then would have a 2nd buyout period in which they could buy out Brian Boyle. Since Boyle is on an over 35 contract he would be payed 2/3 rds of his contract and his full caphit would still count. The Rangers can then trade the $4.5 million caphit to a team that needs to stay off the cap floor throughout the season and especially during the trade deadline so they won't have to take back a bad contract. It would actually be a great move for a team with financial issues because they would have $4.5 towards their cap for no money ut of their pockets. This summer it has already happened with the Pronger, Horton, and Savard contracts moving to other teams.

It will be fun over the next few weeks to see what Gorton has up his sleeves and who will be a Ranger longterm!