Day: July 22, 2021

In the end there wasn’t much suspense, with the Rangers announcing they have resigned Barclay Goodrow to a 6 year deal with a $3.6M Annual Average Value.  There was little surprise given the leaks that had occurred earlier in the week, and all expectations were that the deal would be just a formality.

With the deal now official, the Rangers are left with around $20M in Cap space for the coming season and seventeen starters under contract.  Chief on their list will be to resolve the future for Pavel Buchnevich, Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil and to an extent Libor Hajek.  As it stands now, Shesterkin looks to be the one sure bet, with perhaps all the others in play in terms of potential trades.

Forward Colin Blackwell has been chosen by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft as announced last night.  The 28 year old forward had been a minor leaguer for much of his career, but found a place in the Rangers line-up last year, appearing in a career high 42 games, as well as setting milestones with 12 goals, 10 assists and 22 points.

The versatile American also got a spot on the World Championship team as a result, and would have likely continued to be a utility depth forward if he had stuck with the Rangers for the second year of his two year contract.

When the Rangers acquired Brendan Smith on February 28th, 2017, they were looking to add some depth to their blueline for another playoff run.  Smith made an immediate impact, bringing a physical edge to a line-up that was more a play-the-puck style team that a play-the-man.

His playoff performance and the threat of pending UFA status prompted the Rangers to offer him a four year deal at $4M per season, which seemed about fair market value for him at the time.