Ryan Strome and Brendan Lemieux arbitration award predictions
All the Rangers top RFA’s filed for salary arbitration. Two have already come to terms in Tony DeAngelo and Alexandar Georgiev. Two are days away from theirs in Ryan Strome and Brendan Lemieux.
Understand, these never usually get to an arbitrator. The closest in recent memory was Chris Kreider on the morning of his hearing. He settled on a four year deal in Toronto in 2016. The only time the Rangers walked away from a reward was Nikolai Zherdev in 2009.
Now we have Strome just one day away and Lemieux is two. What will happen?
Ryan Strome 11/5 hearing
The 27 year-old pivot is up for a significant raise this offseason. Jeff Gorton knows it, Ryan Strome knows it, and his agent Mark Guy does too. The Rangers second line center is coming off a 2 year deal that paid him $3.1 million annually.
This season was Ryan’s best as he notched 59 points in 70 games. Had he played a full 82, his .84 points per game would have been good for 69 points. Strome finished two points behind players like Ryan O’Reilly ($7.5M) and three points behind Anze Kopitar ($10M), so you know he’s getting paid.
This is one I can see going all the way to arbitration.
Ryan Strome ask: $5.7 million
NYR offer: $3.6 million
Projected reward: $4.95 million (1 year)
Brendan Lemieux 11/6 hearing
First off, I expected this one to be done because Brendan Lemieux hinted as much. He is represented by his father, Claude Lemieux who is a shrewd agent and this may go to the day of the hearing.
Brendan is a rugged forward coming off a one year deal at $925,000. His agent knows the Rangers lack what he brings so he will drive a hard bargain. The 24 year-old winger scored 18 points in 59 games and would have notched 25 points in a full season. Of course, he’s not there for just points as he led the team in hits for forwards.
Brendan Lemieux ask: $2.0 million
NYR offer: $1.075 million
Projected reward: $1.5 million (1 year)
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