MTPS: Free Agency Preview—The Defensemen

This year's free agent market is like the toilet paper aisle during COVID: there's very little to find, and most of the stuff that is there will probably chap your ass if you use it.

That said, the blueline market may offer some interesting candidates for a New York Rangers team looking to add depth to that position. The Rangers ended last year with:

Gavrikov - Fox
Robertson - Borgen
Fortescue - Schneider

Vaakanainen/Iorio

Rumors continue to swirl around Braden Schneider, and recently Vladislav Gavrikov's name was thrown into the mix, as well. Will Borgen's name has not been out there, but the veteran is another player who could find himself in some demand over the summer. With a reasonable contract and a partial no-trade clause, there will be teams who show interest in the right shot defender as a potential second or third pairing option. Waiver wire pick up Vincent Iorio is a restricted free agent and I don't expect him to be retained.

So, who does that leave?

Adam Fox isn't going anywhere unless he wants to go somewhere, and it doesn't appear he wants to go anywhere right now. Matthew Robertson finally came of age, going from afterthought seventh defenseman to reliable second pair player once Carson Soucy was traded. Drew Fortescue did nothing wrong in his debut with the Rangers, and Urho Vaakanainen is still under contract as a reasonable seventh defenseman. The Rangers will resign Scott Morrow, and while I believe he'll get another chance to show he can play a passable defensive game, he will need to really grow to earn the trust of Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff.

At a glance, it doesn't look like there's much to do on the blueline. But just because there are players doesn't mean there also isn't room for improvement.

Let's take a look at who is available (ages in parenthesis):

Left-Shot Defensemen

• Jake Bean (28)
• Jacob Bryson (28)
• Declan Carlile (26)
• Ian Cole (37)
• Andreas Englund (30)
• Mario Ferraro (27)
• Derek Forbort (34)
• Dennis Gilbert (29)
• Matt Grzelcyk (32)
• Erik Gustafsson (34)
• Ben Hutton (33)
• Brett Kulak (32)
• Jeremy Lauzon (29)
• Nick Leddy (35)
• Jacob Moverare (27)
• Jordan Oesterle (34)
• Jamie Oleksiak (33)
• Mike Reilly (32)
• Ryan Shea (29)
• Brendan Smith (37)
• Carson Soucy (31)
• Logan Stanley (28)
• Juuso Välimäki (27)

Right-Shot Defensemen

• Rasmus Andersson (29)
• Nick Blankenburg (28)
• Zach Bogosian (35)
• Brent Burns (41)
• Kyle Burroughs (30)
• John Carlson (36)
• Connor Clifton (31)
• Tony DeAngelo (30)
• Vincent Desharnais (30)
• Matt Dumba (31)
• Radko Gudas (36)
• Erik Gudbranson (34)
• Justin Holl (34)
• Nick Jensen (35)
• Noah Juulsen (29)
• John Klingberg (33)
• Timothy Liljegren (27)
• Colin Miller (33)
• Daniil Miromanov (28)
• Connor Murphy (33)
• Andrew Peeke (28)
• Alexander Petrovic (34)
• Jeff Petry (38)
• Luke Schenn (36)
• Troy Stecher (32)
• Jacob Trouba (32)
• Trevor van Riemsdyk (34)

There are some interesting options there, to be sure, but are any of them a fit for the Rangers? Let's narrow the field a little bit first.

I'll be upfront and say that one of my hot takes for this summer is that the Darren Raddysh and Rasmus Andersson contracts are going to be two of the worst contracts handed out this year. Raddysh was just traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and extended at eight years and an $8.5 million AAV and with a great deal of trade protection. Andersson's contract will no doubt be similar. I don't think either player has a chance of living up to those deals. So, let's take both players off the board.

I love John Carlson, but I cannot see him joining a Rangers team that is not going to be a Cup contender next year—my guess is that he goes to Tampa Bay to replace Raddysh. I think we can also agree that Jacob Trouba and Tony DeAngelo are non-starters, amirite?

So, who is left? A few interesting options.