Jesper Fast joins the Carolina Hurricanes, Georgiev and Lemieux also file for arbitration
Jesper Fast wanted to remain with the Rangers but the two sides could not come to an agreement at the deadline. The Rangers tried to trade him but there wasn’t an offer worth taking with themselves on the verge of a wildcard spot.
Then COVID hit and the world went upside down. Now Fast is in Carolina.
“The window has passed”
In early September I spoke with a source about Jesper Fast’s situation. In our phone conversation when I asked if there were talks going on about a new deal the response was, “the window has passed.”
While that “window” was left ajar, the source noted that it would take a lot of work for there to be a deal and therefore not likely. That is why I exclusively reported Jesper Fast was going to free agency. And although Jeff Gorton implied there was a possibility after the draft, there were no discussions between the two sides this offseason as was reported by Larry Brooks.
This was not about money, but opportunity for younger Rangers players
Fast’s new three year Canes deal is just $150,000 more than his last deal with the Blueshirts. In truth, this was not so much about money but opportunity. Simply put, the Rangers weren’t interested in a multi-year deal and wanted to give Kaapo Kakko a spot in the top six next season. Also, they needed to open up minutes for Vitali Kravtsov and Julien Gauthier on the right side.
The Rangers are on the up swing and need to make that next step into a contender. By the time, Kakko, Fox, Miller, and Lafreniere are ready to dominate, Fast will be gone. Plus he would be blocking Kravtsov and Gauthier. It was time to move on and Fast will do well in a bottom six role in Carolina.
Alexandar Georgiev and Brendan Lemieux file for salary arbitration
Earlier I noted that today was the deadline to file for salary arbitration. Both DeAngelo and Strome announced they filed around 3PM today. Now the 5PM deadline has hit and as expected, Georgiev and Lemieux have as well.
For more on the situation read here.
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