New York Rangers: Grading the Ryan Strome extension
Ryan Strome and the New York Rangers have renewed their vows for another two years.
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the New York Rangers and Ryan Strome have settled on terms of an extension before arbitration, which will no doubt be a huge sigh of relief for both parties.
Friedman reports that Strome has signed a two-year, $9 million extension with the Rangers, a deal that will carry an AAV of $4.5 million and keep the forward in The Big Apple through the 2021-22 season.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
In the end, both sides came to a compromise with Strome originally asking for $5.7 million in arbitration filings, while the Rangers had offered considerably less with $3.6 million their figure.
It is a intriguing deal and one we are going to attempt to break down from all angles, starting with what Strome means to the Blueshirts…
The real deal or a mirage?
The reason Ryan Strome getting a signifiant payday is so interesting is because some wonder if it is just a byproduct of the forward’s environment.
After all, Strome struggled mightily during his last year in Edmonton with the Oilers prior to being traded to the New York Rangers in the middle of the 2018-19 season, putting up just two points (1 G, 1 A) in 18 regular-season games.
Having started his career in New York with the Islanders, being back in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of seemingly revitalized Strome’s career in emphatic fashion.
He recorded 33 points (18 G, 15 A) in 63 games for the Rangers in 2018-19, but the blockbuster Free Agent signing of Artemi Panarin in the summer of 2019 really proved to be the turning point in Strome’s career.
Centering a line with Artemi Panarin and Jesper Fast for much of the 2019-20 season, Strome benefitted more than most from the brilliant Panarin bringing his considerable talents to Broadway.
With that level of skill and playmaking ability available to him, Strome took full advantage by establishing career-highs in points (59), assists (41), power play points (17) and ATOI (19:35).
In other words, Strome flourished alongside Panarin and proved the old adage right that elite players can elevate others around them.
However, the Rangers will be hoping that Strome can now prove his dramatic turnaround in fortunes aren’t all down to Panarin, and proceed to continue to contribute in a big way offensively.
After all, while the Blueshirts are now laden with talent after drafting phenom forward Alexis Lafreniere with the No.1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, they are light at center behind Mika Zibanejad and Strome.
If Strome can continue to light the lamp, help Panarin shine and play in all situations then it will be money well spent by the Rangers who are starting to take that next big leap towards becoming a formidable force in the National Hockey League again.
Grading The Contract
As already mentioned, Ryan Strome was looking for a big payday in the region of $5 million, before eventually settling for an AAV of $4.5 million.
That is still a substantial increase on the $3.1 million deal Strome signed with the Edmonton Oilers back in 2018, and it is both a reward for the forward’s high-level of play in New York so far and also an opportunity for Strome to put himself in line for a potential huge payday with another couple of big years.
You can argue that $4.5 million per season for a player who has the luxury of having the uber-talented Artemi Panarin on his wing is too much, but you can’t debate Strome’s offensive production in 2019-20 and the proof will be in the pudding when it comes to if he can become a consistent 50 plus points scorer in the National Hockey League over the next couple of seasons.
If he can then the Rangers will be laughing all the way to the bank behind a potent one-two punch at center in Mika Zibanejad and Strome, and they’ll worry about paying Strome big dollars at the end of the 2021-22 season if his performances warrant another rise.
For now, the New York Rangers will be content with the fact that they have their second-line center and Panarin’s favorite running mate locked down for another two years, while their only remaining outstanding piece of business is to sign gritty forward Brendan Lemieux, a deal that could get done this week.
In the wake of Strome signing his extension, the Blueshirts have just under $7 million in cap space if they re-sign Lemieux too, although they have a lot of money tied up in Performance Bonus so they will be close to the cap in 2020-21.
However, the New York Rangers will be hoping to compete for a postseason spot in 2020-21 and keeping Ryan Strome, who has really found his stride at Madison Square Garden should only help them towards achieving that goal.
Next. Home cooking could do wonders for Simmonds. dark
And, if things don’t exactly work out as hoped or planned, then the Rangers could look to shop Strome at the next Trade Deadline in order to collect yet more valuable assets for the future.