Rangers re-sign Hartford Wolf Pack veteran Anton Blidh to 2-year contract
The New York Rangers took care of a little offseason business before this season is even over Wednesday.
They re-signed forward Anton Blidh to a two-year, two-way contract, worth $775,000 annually at the NHL level. The 30-year-old could’ve become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
It’s the second two-year, two-way deal he’s signed with the Rangers, first doing so on June 7, 2023. He played only one game with the Rangers the past two seasons, spending the rest of the time with New York’s AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack.
Blidh is second on the Wolf Pack with 17 goals and third with 30 points this season. He’s also got 80 penalty minutes, third most on the team. His goals and points totals are both career highs.
He has five multiple-point games this season with Hartford, including three two-goal games. Blidh hasn’t scored a goal in his past 14 games and has four assists in that span.
Last season, Blidh appeared in one game for the Rangers and was pointless in a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Jan. 13, 2024. He has 85 games of NHL experience with the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Rangers, including 32 with the Bruins in 2021-22.
Blidh has four goals and eight assists in the NHL.
Blidh and the Wolf Pack have five games remaining to play this season. Hartford was eliminated from Calder Cup playoff contention last weekend.
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Rangers have seven pending unrestricted free agents, some key RFAs this summer
The Rangers still have seven UFAs to make decisions on this summer, though no big names. They already traded pending unrestricted free agents Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey and Reilly Smith before the March 7 deadline.
Calvin de Haan is probably the most well-known name among New York’s UFAs. The veteran defenseman will be a healthy scratch for the 16th consecutive game Wednesday when the Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers, and is not expected to be re-signed at season’s end.
The other pending UFAs are players who’ve largely played with Hartford this season. Topping that list is veteran goalie Louis Domingue and the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer Alex Belzile. Defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and Ben Harpur, and forwards Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Riley Nash, are also on that list.
More importantly, the Rangers need to work out a new deal with restricted free agent defenseman K’Andre MIller, who also has arbitration rights. Forwards Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom, Arthur Kaliyev and Juuso Parssinen, and defenseman Zac Jones, will be RFAs this summer.
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