The New York Rangers have reportedly agreed to phrases with Alexis Lafreniere, one among their high younger gamers, on Friday and it might find yourself being an unbelievable win-win deal for each the group and participant.
In line with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Lafreniere’s new deal will likely be a seven-year contract price a complete of $52.1 million. That comes out to a salary-cap hit of $7.45 million per season. That new deal will kick in subsequent season and run by means of the tip of the 2031-32 season.
The Rangers chosen Lafreniere with the No. 1 total decide within the 2020 NHL Draft and made him a key a part of their rebuild. After a few years of inconsistent play and a scarcity of a transparent position below former head coach Gerard Gallant, Lafreniere lastly began to interrupt out throughout the 2023-24 season. He now appears to be on observe to turning into the star participant the Rangers hoped he could be after they chosen him with the highest decide.
After scoring a career-high 28 objectives with 57 factors throughout the common season a yr in the past, Lafreniere was one of many Rangers’ greatest gamers within the Stanley Cup Playoffs and is off to an amazing begin this season with 4 objectives and three assists within the group’s first seven video games.
What makes it such an ideal deal for the Rangers is {that a} $7.45 million cap hit will not be even among the many top-85 salary-cap numbers within the NHL, and inside a few years will virtually definitely be even decrease down the rankings as extra long-term contracts get signed. Assuming Lafreniere continues on his present trajectory — and there may be little cause to consider he will not — he needs to be outperforming that quantity inside a yr or two. It is usually a contract that buys out his prime years within the NHL when he needs to be scoring at his peak charges. It’s not out of the query to assume he may very well be a 35-40-goal scorer and 90-plus-point participant inside a few years.
It is usually a win for Lafreniere as a result of when the contract expires, he’ll nonetheless solely be 30 years previous. That might permit him to hit unrestricted free company at some extent in his profession the place he ought to nonetheless have a number of years of top-line play forward of him and probably money in with a minimum of yet one more large contract in his NHL profession.
With Lafreniere’s contract settled, the following order of enterprise for the Rangers will likely be getting beginning goalie Igor Shesterkin signed to a long-term deal. He’s their greatest and most vital participant and set to grow to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. He’s more likely to reset the goalie market and set a brand new highpoint for the place. It’s only a matter of whether or not or not the Rangers are the group that’s keen to satisfy that worth.
