BREAKING: Brooks reports Marc Staal close to new 6 year deal

Anthony Scultore Updated: Jan 16, 2015

Marc Staal may be celebrating with Hank for 6 more years soon (Getty)

Larry Brooks is reporting that the Rangers and Marc Staal are nearing a deal that would effectively take him off the free agent table in July.In an article he published at 2:55AM, Brooks writes:

A well-placed source said there had been “a productive meeting” here on Wednesday between assistant general manager Jeff Gorton and Staal’s representative, Paul Krepelka.

In addition, he adds that the deal is for 6 years in the stratosphere of about 5.6 to 5.9 million a season. The deal would solidify the Rangers blue-line for the coming years and take Staal to the age of 34 when the contract is up.

Of course, the Rangers are tight on cap space to begin with and really need it to come in as high as possible for next season. Gary Bettman was last quoted that it may come in at 71-73 million.

This is going to be a very interesting trade deadline with Martin St. Louis, Mats Zuccarello, Lee Stempniak and Matt Hunwick all impending UFA’s. To make matters worse, Carl Hagelin, Jesper Fast, John Moore and Derek Stepan are RFA’s. They could make it a difficult summer for Sather with their salary demands, especially Stepan.