The New York Rangers season ended a round earlier than the Blueshirts hoped. Despite winning the Presidents Trophy with 114 points, opening the playoffs by winning seven straight games, and taking a 2-1 series lead over the Florida Panthers, the blue and white got eliminated in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three seasons.
The Blueshirts now enter the offseason with some difficult decisions, and president and general manager Chris Drury made one on Tuesday when he placed a playoff hero from this past season on waivers.
Barclay Goodrow gets claimed by the San Jose Sharks
After a quiet regular season, where Barclay Goodrow scored just four goals and registered eight assists across 80 games, the 31-year-old came to life in the postseason.
Goodrow scored six goals — three of which came against the Panthers, including the game-two overtime winner — and registered two assists across 16 games.
Despite the playoff success, the Rangers placed the Canada native in hopes of alleviating the three seasons remaining on the six-year, $21.85 million contract ($3.641 million average annual value) that he signed back in 2021. The San Jose Sharks did just that as they claimed the 31-year-old off waivers and absorbed the remainder of his cap hit.
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Where could the money be used?
With Goodrow’s contract now off the books, the Rangers now have $12.8 million in cap space and could use it in a variety of ways.
The Blueshirts still need to either re-sign Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schnieder, who are currently restricted free agents, or sign some defenseman from the open market to fill the void.
In addition, the blue and white need to replace Goodrow in the bottom six so they can use the money to upgrade there.
Finally, there have been rumblings that the Rangers are targeting a right-winger to play alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, so the newly available cap space could be used to acquire that top-tier talent.
Time will tell where the Rangers used their newly gained $3.641 million in cap space, but plenty of areas could benefit from being upgraded.
