After much confusion surround when the buyout window actually occur, there are reports surfacing that the Rangers have or will buy out defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, relieving the team of enough salary cap space to go into the year with even a little space.

Next year will be a different story of course, with around $6M of dead space on the books, as well as around $1.4M for each of the two years following, but the move does give the team a little more time to decide what to do with Chris Kreider..

Then had been some speculation over the past 24 hours there has been little news on what the Rangers would do, lthough the team did appear to be still exploring trade options for Chris Kreider after earlier attempts at moving Valdislav Namestnikov Brendan Smith and Kevin Shattenkirk appeared to have lead nowhere.

Little is known about what offers if any were on the table, or whether limited no-trade clauses got in the way, but at this tage it's clear that the team appears to have fallen back on their second option, parting way with their previously highes tpaid defenseman.

As for Shattenkirk, it looked like he would have at best taken a cut in playing time witht he team, given the influx of young talent as well as the addition of Jacob Trouba.  Retaining Shattenkirk would have made it difficult to find games for either Adam Fox or Tony DeAngelo, and with his departure, it should allow the team a few more options.

Just to clarify, exactly when this window opens is still unclear. But #NYR will buyout (or have bought out) Shattenkirk, whenever possible. https://t.co/T5Dwc3HYt6

— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) July 31, 2019