Here are the latest rumblings around Rangerstown.

Leo Komarov

After reports came out yesterday that the Rangers and free-agent Leo Komarov were close to an agreement, Rangers insider Rick Carpiniello says that may not be true.

As I noted yesterday, Komarov would be a nice piece to add into the Rangers room of youngsters. But based on Carpiniello’s report, it would appear that Rangers GM Jeff Gorton isn’t leaping out of his chair to sign the veteran forward.

James Van Riemsdyk

The New Jersey native is coming off of a 36 goal season with the Maple Leafs, and there have been rumors that link JVR and his childhood team.

Van Riemsdyk is 29-years-old and could be a great piece for the future of the Rangers. He is a guy that can play in the corners and isn’t afraid to set himself in front of the net for a greasy goal. Having a guy like this who has been around the NHL for close to ten years could go a long way with the baby Blueshirts.

Ryan Reaves

The role of the “enforcer” may have gone the way of the dodo bird, but that doesn’t mean that a team shouldn’t have a “tough guy.” And according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Jeff Gorton is interested in one such player.

Reaves is a grinder, the kind of player that you stick on a fourth line and will score an occasional goal or two. If the report is true, there is not a whole lot of downside to bringing in this kind of player. If he performs better than expected, you have yourself a steal in free agency. If he plays worse than expected, he can become a healthy scratch and you won’t be wasting your money on someone sitting in the press box.

One other point here is the Rangers have this kind of player already in their organization. Matt Beleskey, who the Rangers acquired in the deal for Rick Nash, plays a similar type of game to Reaves. Beleskey is under contract for the next two seasons at $1.9 million per year; a reasonable salary for a bottom-six forward. Beleskey has shown that he can produce offensively, putting up seasons of 32 points and 37 points in 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively. With Beleskey being in the organization for the next couple of seasons, the Rangers might as well give him a look for this role before spending money outside the organization.

NYRPDC Day 4

The Rangers held their second scrimmage of the prospect’s camp and it was not short on highlights.

Before we get to the goals, and there were 12 of them in regulation, check out this fantastic save by Adam Huska on Morgan Barron’s penalty shot.

After his delicious deke on Wednesday, Gabriel Fontaine scored with a quick backhand-forehand snipe on a penalty shot.

Brett Howden scored a pair of goals in this scrimmage, showing his offensive prowess that had him score 75 points this year for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL.

Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil also got in on the action. Andersson found a loose puck in the slot and wired it past Adam Huska. Chytil got himself an assist, sliding a pass over to K’Andre Miller on a 2v1. Miller stepped into it and sent a rocket into the back of the net.

Miller’s fellow first-rounder Vitali Kravtsov got himself an assist as well, sending a cross-crease pass to fifth-round pick Lauri Pajuniemi for a nice goal.

But the goal of the day, and probably the goal of the camp, came from 2016 seventh-round pick Ty Ronning.

“It was getting late in the rounds and I thought it would be cool, wearing the Rangers jersey. Malik did it a long time ago. I said why not?,” Ronning said. “I just kind of stuck with my guns, did a fake and kind of put it between my legs and it went in. It was cool.” – NYRangers.com

Leo Komarov

There had been some speculation about the Rangers going after the veteran Maple Leafs forward, but it appears that a deal is close to getting done.

Komarov would be an excellent addition to the Rangers bottom-six. A versatile player that can play both on the wing and down the middle, Komarov is a good skater that will grind it out in the corners and get under the opponent’s skin. Signing Komarov to a two-year deal would be good for the organization as the next crop of Rangers forward learns the NHL game.

Jonathan Bernier

Backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier is a free-agent this summer as he comes off of a solid season in Colorado. And while the Rangers don’t have an “experienced” back-up for King Henrik, they certainly have a lot of options at their disposal.

That being said, Cat Silverman of The Athletic notes that it wouldn’t shock her if the Rangers take a run at the 29-year-old goaltender.

For me, this is not a move Jeff Gorton should look to make. Alexandar Georgiev certainly proved he has what it takes to be Henrik Lundqvist’s understudy. More than that, top Rangers goalie prospect Igor Shestyorkin can come over to the United States after this season, and Bernier wouldn’t get more than a one-year deal. The Rangers aren’t expected to make a lot of noise this season, so bringing in a veteran backup when you have a kid within the organization that can do the same job, doesn’t make sense to me.

Editor’s Note: For more on the rumors surrounding Michael Grabner and Justin Faulk, click here.

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

The latest on the Rangers around the web.

Could the Rangers Trade Zibanejad?

Larry Brooks recently weighed the option of trading Mika Zibanejad and some of the points make sense. When you dive into the numbers of Kevin Hayes and Zibanejad, the facts are this, Zibanejad is only slightly better and that is with a ton of power play time. So it begs the question with so many centers on the team to make a move. If the Rangers are projecting both Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson to play huge roles as centers in the future it may be a wise path.

Of all the current centers, Zibanejad would bring in the biggest return but here’s what the Rangers should do….

NOTHING!

That’s right. Just sign Hayes, Vesey, Skjei, Namestnikov, and Spooner. Get them all under contract and see what trades come to you at the deadline. For a rebuilding team, this is the most sensible option I can see.

Kevin Hayes Contract Ask

It looks like Kevin Hayes is looking for money similar to Mika Zibanejad. The NY POST is reporting that aside from Spooner, whom Gorton will meet with this week, all RFA’s have given their asks. Hayes wants over 5 million a season for the next 5 years.

This seems reasonable, but I just don’t see the Rangers giving him more than $5 million for those 5 years. If the Rangers could get him at $4.5M it would be a steal.

Potential UFA Targets

I’ve said it before and I will continue to pound the drum, the Rangers need someone to protect the kids, or an agitator that takes the focus off of them. With that said, the Rangers need to target either Leo Komarov or Antoinne Roussel.

If given the choice, sign Komarov. I wrote about him way back in May:

Toronto will be cash strapped this summer and have plenty of players they need to re-sign. 6 UFA’s and 2 RFA’s, one of which is William Nylander plus they need to get under the cap. If the Rangers want to jump on Komarov early, it will likely need to be a 3 year deal at 3.5M per.

Another player that would be a perfect fit is a familiar one. Bring back Michael Grabner to solidify the bottom six and the penalty kill. The rumors dating back to the day he was traded to NJ is that both sides still had mutual interest in each other. Signing Grabner to a 2-3 year deal at around 3M per would be a good move.

Mats Zuccarello’s Charity Game

The Summer Classic website is up and running. Excited about hosting this charity outdoor hockey game in Oslo August 11th. Check out our website for more information: https://t.co/W25JkNQS32

— Mats Zuccarello (@zuccarello36) June 25, 2018

The Rangers lack physical players. That doesn’t mean they don’t have guys with size, it just means they don’t have guys that are willing to get in your face. This issue only got worse with the retirement of Kevin Klein, the demotion of Brendan Smith, and the trade of J.T. Miller.

Need Some Sandpaper

A look at the current roster shows an lineup filled with younger, fast, skilled players. It’s already too one dimensional, but that could change this summer by signing bottom six forward, Leo Komarov.

The 5’11”, 210lbs winger is mean and aggressive. He is an in your face player and makes his presence known almost every shift. On a team filled with young players, Komarov could be just the type of player that makes the opposition focus on him than going after the Chytils and Anderssons on the Blueshirts.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaC2wBTsNr8″]

Leo loves to agitate, hit, and mix it up. He would be perfect on a 3rd or 4th line role with this rebuilding squad. He’s simply put the type of player you hate until he wears your favorite team’s sweater.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz74xqUNHYw”]

Age and Money

The immediate reaction from the new age hockey fan that worships corsi is that he’s too slow. Honestly, he isn’t that slow and when you are a shark cruising the ocean for a meal, you aren’t exactly flying at full speed…until you want to strike. Regardless, Komarov can chip in the occasional offense and his speed looked fine to me on these tallies.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oVbPNgQL-g”]

If you want a drawback on Komarov, I think it’s obvious what they are – age and money. He is 31 years old and is coming off a contract with a cap hit of $2.950M. The Rangers can ill afford to give him a 3 or 4 year deal, which is what he would like. Nor should they be paying him much more than he is making now.

Toronto will be cash strapped this summer and have plenty of players they need to re-sign. 6 UFA’s and 2 RFA’s, one of which is William Nylander plus they need to get under the cap. If the Rangers want to jump on Komarov early, it will likely need to be a 3 year deal at 3.5M per.

However, the Rangers could play it slow and hope that most teams stay focused on all the big fish out there causing Leo’s demands to drop. If the Rangers get lucky they may be able to get him on a one or two year deal at a bargain price.

No matter what, the Rangers have a toughness issue and there is an answer in the form of Komarov in the UFA pool party this summer.