Rangers Roundup: Returning Blueshirts, UFA targets, and more

The latest on the Rangers from around the web.

Returning Rangers?

Jeff Gorton hinted at what he’s looking for when the bell for Free Agent Frenzy begins this weekend. The Rangers GM, is looking to sign “character” players that will help the young kids, not stars that will be taking away opportunity.

Gorton said he has been in touch with or is planning to talk to several pending UFAs, including former Rangers forwards Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and defenseman Nick Holden, and indicated he will be active in trying to sign players beginning Sunday, when the free agent market opens. – Dan Rosen for NHL.com

Of the three mentioned above, only Grabner makes sense to me. It should also be noted that Rick Nash has at least 5 teams interested in his services per Darren Dreger which should essentially price the Rangers out.

UFA Targets

Apparently the Rangers may be looking at bringing in a veteran goaltender to backup Henrik Lundqvist.

“With free agency, we’ll go in and look at some people and see what the prices are and availabilities, but at the same time we do like Mazanec a lot and Georgiev from last year showed a lot,” Gorton said. “So we’re looking, we’ll see what’s out there, but we’re pretty happy with those two as well.” – Dan Rosen for NHL.com

Some notable names are Carter Hutton in St. Louis and Anton Khudobin in Boston.

Back to the character type free agents, one name stands out to me and that is Leo Komarov. He is an agitator and can help protect the kids by getting under the opponents skin and shifting focus to him.

Other notable UFA’s for the Rangers Bottom Six

MARK LETESTU, C, 33
2017-18 cap hit: $1,800,000

Matt Calvert, LW, 28
2017-18 cap hit: $2,200,000

JAY BEAGLE, C, 32
2017-18 cap hit: $1,750,000

Antoine Roussel, LW, 28
2017-18 cap hit: $2,000,000

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

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