on March 22, 2015 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

New York Rangers sign Derek Stepan to six-year extension

The New York Rangers entered this offseason with a laundry list of goals, but none were bigger than re-signing Derek Stepan. Well, the club can now cross that off the list, as they’ve agreed to terms today on a six-year extension worth $39 million per Larry Brooks.

The deal, which works out to a $6.5 million AAV, is good for both parties. The 25-year-old was a key player for the Rangers, scoring 55 points in just 68 games last year which was third best on the team. Considering a comparable player like Ryan O’Reilly received a seven-year, $52.5 million deal, you can’t really argue that Stepan’s deal isn’t good for the Rangers.

Digging deeper into Stepan’s stats, he posted a surprisingly low 46.1 CF% which ranked third from last on the Rangers, only above Tanner Glass and Chris Summers. There’s reasons to believe that number may be an anomaly, opposed to things to come. Stepan was a positive possession player in both 2013-14 and 2012-13. For the most part, he positively impacted his teammates. What changed last year? As Blueshirt Banter noted in their in-depth look at Stepan’s free agency, playing with Martin St. Louis hurt his numbers, so now that he’s retired, it’s expected Stepan will see an uptick in those stats.

With the move, the Rangers are now pressed ever so closely against the cap, but their roster is locked-in.

Signing Stepan, a first-line center who will be in his prime for the majority of this contract, was a fantastic move by new Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton. The club now doesn’t have any restricted free agents and don’t have to worry about if a new contract will hurt their cap further.

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com

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