The search for an impact right wing seems eternal since the New York Rangers traded Pavel Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues in July 2021. And the Rangers can be expected to search for at least one right wing again this year. out of season.
Midseason trade acquisition Jack Roslovic and offseason signing Blake Wheeler will become unrestricted free agents on July 1, and neither of them are expected to return. Former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko is arbitration eligible and could be a bargaining chip this summer. That means the Rangers need to acquire at least one right wing, maybe two.
The ongoing search will be particularly pertinent after an Eastern Conference finals exit that saw the offense dry up and a lack of scoring on the right side outside of Alexis Lafreniere. That’s on top of a years-long experiment to find the right forward to slot in on the top line alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, which remains a big question mark this offseason.
PuckPedia has the Rangers with the 11th-worst projected cap space at $12.45 million, which will likely put them out of the race for starters among unrestricted free agent forwards like Sam Reinhart and Jake Guentzel unless he is signed an important contract, like that of Jacob Trouba. he is moving this summer, perhaps along with Kakko.
Prospects Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard will have a long look at training camp. Each is knocking on the NHL door, although any of them could start in a bottom-six role, meaning the Rangers would still need to target a more veteran right wing in the offseason. It would be risky to start chasing the Stanley Cup next season with a rookie, even a first-rounder like Othmann, starting right away on the front line.
Still, general manager Chris Drury said they would pursue all options, both internal and external, when he addressed the media on Friday.
Related: Where the Rangers stand after NHL salary cap rises beyond expectations
Right-wing options for Rangers in free agency
With all that on the table, let’s take a look at some potential right-wing candidates with free agency starting in less than a month. Listed in alphabetical order.
Matt Duchene
The Dallas Stars signed Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3 million contract after the Nashville Predators bought out his seven-year, $56 million contract that was supposed to last through 2025-26. Duchene was well worth the value, scoring 25 goals to help Dallas achieve the best record in the Western Conference.
Now he will return to free agency. He will turn 34 next season, but has largely continued to produce in the second half of his career. He will likely see a jump from the $3 million cap hit he had last season, but the big question is how much.
If he stays in the sub-$5 million range, he could fit in with the New York Rangers for years to come.
It was only two years ago that he scored 43 goals and he has scored more than 20 goals in each of the last three seasons. He is a primary right winger with top-six experience, logging over 663 minutes in the regular season alongside Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin. He also adds the ability to play up the middle, which he did for most of these playoffs. However, he scored just two goals in 19 postseason games this spring.
Again, he’s not the biggest guy (5-foot-11, 195 pounds), but the Rangers could certainly use someone with his speed and scoring touch. It’s worth noting that 19 of his 25 goals this season came at even strength, an area the Blueshirts have struggled to excel in recent years.
This would certainly be a breakthrough as he would be placed on the top line right away. Dallas would certainly like to keep him as well, so it will be curious to see where his AAV ends up.
Antonio Duclair
Anthony Duclair emerged in the Rangers organization and debuted at age 19 in the 2014-15 season. He played in only 18 games and was later traded to the Arizona Coyotes for Keith Yandle. He has fluctuated greatly in his 10-year career, playing for eight different teams, and will once again be available when he finishes his three-year contract.
Duclair hit the books with an average annual value of $3 million in his most recent contract, the biggest cap hit of his career. It’s hard to think he’ll make much more than that after an up-and-down 2024 season that saw him struggle in 56 games with the San Jose Sharks before finding a spark after a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning before the deadline. . He finished with 24 combined goals.
This comes after a 2022-23 season in which he scored just nine points in 20 regular season games after rupturing his Achilles tendon. However, he bounced back to help the Florida Panthers reach the Stanley Cup Final last postseason, when he scored 11 points in 20 Stanley Cup playoff games.
That could translate into a pretty reasonable contract that the Rangers could afford, while also acquiring a player who still has plenty of upside to buy.
Duclair scored a career-high 31 goals two seasons ago with Florida and has scored 20 goals four times in the NHL. This postseason showed that the Rangers could certainly use someone on the right side who has a scoring touch. And his speed would be a nice addition to the Rangers lineup.
He’s not the biggest guy (5-foot-11, 197 pounds), which could be a liability after the Panthers beat the Rangers in the conference finals, but he has plenty of speed and a strong shot. Might be worth a look if the contract is in scope.
Danton Heinen
Similar to Sprong, Danton Heinen could be a bottom-six target with the potential to play on the top line if needed.
Heinen scored 17 goals and 36 points in 74 games with the Boston Bruins, rejoining the team that drafted him after several seasons away.
The 28-year-old is primarily a left wing, but has played on the right side throughout his career, including a period from 2018 to 2020 when he logged the majority of his minutes on the right wing with the Bruins.
He has better defensive ratings than Sprong and has ranked in the top six, primarily with Boston. In the 2018-19 season, he logged his most ice time to the right of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. This year he played more than 184 minutes alongside David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.
If the Rangers hope to recapture the spark of Frank Vatrano, who found inspired success after seeing consistent minutes on the first line alongside Zibanejad and Kreider after the 2022 trade deadline, Heinen is a guy who has played that role before. and has some offensive advantages. .
Heinen returned to Boston on an incredibly team-friendly, one-year, $775,000 contract. He will certainly receive a pay raise this offseason, but should still be within range for the Rangers.
Daniel Sprong
The Rangers would love to land a top wing this offseason, but there simply aren’t many who fit that bill, are available, and can afford it as they are currently constituted. Daniel Sprong may not be a flashy addition, it’s the kind of move Drury could make if he wants to bolster the right side, particularly if Kakko moves up to the top line or doesn’t return.
Sprong scored 18 goals and 43 points in 76 games with the Detroit Red Wings after a 21-goal season with the Seattle Kraken the previous season.
He’s not a great defensive forward, earning poor grades in every season except the last one in Seattle, but his offensive grade ranks in the 77th percentile over this most recent three-year span (per Evolving Hockey).
The Rangers third line of Will Cuylle, Alex Wennberg and Kakko was excellent down the stretch in puck possession but struggled to score. Filip Chytil centering that line for a full season, if he’s healthy, will likely bolster the offensive production, but an addition like Sprong could also help that unit generate more opportunities.
The 27-year-old has signed one-year deals with the Red Wings and Kraken in each of the last two seasons, with $2 million in AAV being his highest cap hit. He’ll likely be worth similar value again this offseason, something the Rangers could fit if they wanted to try him out on a one- or two-year deal.
Vladimir Tarasenko
Here’s another goal for the Rangers, who also briefly played for them. Vladimir Tarasenko was solid but by no means out of this world in his 31 games with the Blueshirts after being acquired before the 2023 trade deadline, tallying eight goals and 21 points in 31 games. However, he played consistently with Zibanejad and Kreider, and scored three goals in seven playoff games against the New Jersey Devils.
The Rangers had very little cap space last offseason and therefore were unable to re-sign Tarasenko, even though he expressed a desire to stay in New York.
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“I like everything. I can’t say a single bad word about my time. I enjoyed everything.”
Vladimir Tarasenko, who calls the Rangers “one of the top organizations in the league, if not the best,” on his time in New York: pic.twitter.com/gsaiv02FrO
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) May 3, 2023
He ended up signing a one-year, $5 million deal with the Ottawa Senators, and is now in the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers after a late-season trade. He scored a goal against the Rangers in the Eastern Conference final, the series-winning goal in Game 6. And, of course, he is a Stanley Cup champion, with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.
This season, the Rangers might have a little more cap space to work with. If Tarasenko is on another $5 million AAV contract, it could be a tough fit, even with the salary cap rising $4.5 million this offseason. Additionally, Tarasenko may be looking for one last long-term deal, which may not be a tree the Rangers want to climb with some notable free agents on the horizon in the coming seasons.
However, if the 32-year-old remains in play on a short-term deal, he wouldn’t be a bad option for Rangers. He scored 23 goals with Florida and Ottawa this season, and has had postseason success on a very successful third line with Anton Lundell and Eutu Luostarinen.
His accurate shot and soft hands would add a playmaking element that the Rangers lack on the right side outside of Lafreniere. He has also scored 297 NHL goals, including 34 just two seasons ago with the Blues.
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