New York Rangers: Better Know a Ranger on the Bubble - Marc Staal

Should Glen Sather fail to re-sign Marc Staal, things could get bad - very bad on Broadway. Staal is acknowledged to be one of the top shut-down defenders in the NHL. Staal very quietly and efficiently does his job. At the end of the last season, he also began to score some goals. Staal is also very young and at the end of a contract that paid him $765,000. This makes him a restricted free agent and places him in a position to sign a multi-year big money NHL contract. The question is, how much is Sather willing to part with to keep his star young defenseman?

Staal by the numbers: 13 goals, 39 assists for 52 points in 244 matches in 3 full seasons with the Rangers. Staal played 80 matches of 82 his first season, and in the last two he has played in all 82. In his NHL career he is also +6 with 150 minutes in penalties.

Staal is young (23 years-old), durable, calm and skillful.

Prediction: Rangers will retain Staal...provided they have the cap space to do so.

Staal, and his agent NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Orr, will see to it that the new contract reflects Staal’s ability and accomplishments. The big question is, now that the Rangers have developed him, can they afford what they have created? The bigger question is, can the Rangers afford not to sign him?

At this writing, Staal is in negotiations with the Rangers. Rangers’ GM Sather has stated in the press that the two sides are far apart on salary, going so far as to describe the discrepancy as a “chasm”.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post recently reported:

“...Our information in this case is that the Blueshirts have made an equitable offer to the defenseman in the range of four years for $14 million, but that his agent — a fellow who once played named Bobby Orr — is seeking substantially more than that...”

There are also rumors that Staal is seeking a 1 year deal, so that he can then be eligible at the end for salary arbitration.

If the Rangers fail to re-sign Staal, it doesn’t say much about an organization that has repeatedly stated that it is committed to rebuilding through youth within the organization. In fact, losing Stall would effectively show the Rangers’ management to be hypocrites of the highest order.