A look at the Rangers defense suggests a Brendan Smith buyout

Updated:

The Rangers next season could very well be looking at a defense with these names penned in:

The remaining three defenseman more likely than not will include newly signed Jack Johnson. The other two spots will be a battle between Libor Hajek, K’Andre Miller, and Tarmo Reunanen.

Are you starting to see what I see?

Rangers will likely buyout Brendan Smith

Brendan Smith Buyout
Rangers must consider a buyout of Smith (Getty Images)

The second buyout window opens after the Rangers settling their last arbitration case or award. So whenever they resolve their last case with either Ryan Strome or Brendan Lemieux, they can buyout Brendan Smith. That’s because he makes more than $4 million. If they do, that will add $1.566 million more in cap space.

The Blueshirts could opt to send Smith down, but that would only save $1 million on the cap. As you can see in this new NHL economy every cent counts. That additional $500K+ could be the cushion the team needs for an emergency call up.

Read the latest NHL Headlines here!

Catch up on all the latest happenings in the NHL here!

NHL Headlines: Joe Thornton to Toronto and Zdeno Chara still looking
By Anthony Scultore

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

Mentioned in this article:

More About: