New York Rangers: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Today we look at restricted free agents Artem Anisimov & Brian Boyle.


Artem Anisimov, Center

Reasons to stay – Has the confidence of both coach and GM illustrated by his regular place in the team. He is enjoying his best season yet in a blue sweater with season-highs in goals, assists, and points. He seems to be marked as a key part of the club’s revival.

Reasons to leave – The free agent market will not let the Rangers keep Anisimov’s salary point at $822K.

Analysis – Has played all 82 games in his first two full NHL seasons. Steadily improving in both scoring and defending. A good solid player. Decent on face-offs.

Speculation – How much of a raise is Glen Sather prepared to offer Anisimov? A competing club may be willing to offer
Anisimov more free agent money than the Rangers care to or can afford to match. Anisimov will be re-signed unless another club overpays for him. A likely contract scenario sees Anisimov signing a one-way deal for 2-3 years somewhere around the $1.2M-2M mark.


Brian Boyle, Center/Wing

Reasons to stay – Boyle is enjoying the best professional season of his NHL career with highs in goals, assists, and points. He has finally earned the confidence of management with a regular place in the team. Of all the forward lines for the Rangers this year, Boyle’s has seen the least tinkering from Torts the tinkerer. Is a restricted free agent which narrows his options.

Reasons to leave – His season numbers indicate that a raise is in order. The Rangers may not be able to retain him for the $525K that he currently earns.

Analysis – A 500% improvement on his production stats from last season tells me Boyle is playing for a bit of job security and a raise. Played all 82 games. Worked hard previous summer on improving his skating. Scored NHL highs of 21 goals, 14 assists, and 35 points.

Speculation – Has worked hard enough on his game to earn a raise, but a raise of how much? The Rangers will probably re-sign Boyle to a one-way contract in the range of somewhere between $800K-1M. The contract length will likely be a 1-2 years, as the Rangers will want to wait and see if Boyle’s dramatic improvement becomes consistency before attempting to retain him for bigger money and longer term.


Tomorrow's segment will feature restricted free agents Stu Bickel & Chad Johnson.