New York Rangers News: Derek Stepan Agrees To Two-Year Deal, Four Placed on Waivers
The New York Rangers have locked up Derek Stepan for the next two-years, which will pay him in the $3 million per year range.
According to both Katie Strang and Pierre LeBrun, Derek Stepan and the New York Rangers have come to terms on a brand new, two-year deal. The new contract is expected to pay Stepan exactly $3.075 million per season, which works out to $6.15 million total at the end of his two years.
Derek Stepan is not expected to play in any of the two remaining preseason games, and will meet up with the Rangers when they return to New York on Saturday. After a few days of practice with the team, Stepan will likely be ready for the season opener in Phoenix on October 3rd, which is a huge sigh of relief.
The Rangers still have a bit of cleaning up to do though, as Stepan's new deal puts them approximately $275,000 over the cap ceiling. Luckily for the Rangers, there are many moving parts here. A demotion of either Darroll Powe or Arron Asham would clean up their cap problems right away, and give them some breathing room. They could also elect to assign Carl Hagelin to the team's LTIR list, which would give them temporary cap relief until Hagelin returns.
Among all of this Stepan news, some waiver placements managed to slip through the seams. As per Renaud Lavoire, the New York Rangers have placed Micheal Haley, Danny Syvret, Aaron Johnson, and Cam Talbot on waivers. If all of them clear, they will report to the Hartford Wolfpack, who started up their preseason last night in Worcester.
That's all for now. Thoughts?