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.
With the signing now complete, Goodrow is expected to slot into a third line role at either Center or Wing, and help build a line that go up against the opposition’s top scoring players, as well as provide key penalty killing and a bit of an edge to a skill heavy line-up.
The term of the deal continues to raise concerns, with expectations for many that the now 28 year old will struggle to remain effective for much of the duration of the contract.