Huge cap between Rangers and Strome: team could walk away!

​This will go down tomorrow in arbitration…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Huge cap between Rangers and Strome: team could walk away!
Zuma Press

Things are getting ugly in New York City as the Rangers are trying to get forward Ryan Strome under contract. According to  Larry Brooks of the New York Post , the restricted free agent has requested a one-year, $5.7 million contract in his arbitration brief Tuesday, while the Rangers have countered at $3.6 million on the same term.

That’s quite the cap… 

Strome’s arbitration meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The 27-year-old posted 18 goals and a career-high 59 points in 70 games this past season. He added two assists in three games during the NHL’s Return to Play. And Brooks wonders if the Rangers could walk away from him. 

The talented centreman is coming off a two-year contract which saw him carry a cap hit of $3.1 million. If the arbitrator awards Strome a salary above $4.54 million, the Rangers will have the option to walk away and make Strome an unrestricted free agent. 

“So for this one, in which both bids seem extreme, the award is likely to come in at the $4.5-to-$5.1 million range. If the award is in excess of $4,538,958, the Rangers could walk away from Strome, who was the team’s third-leading scorer behind Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.” - Larry Brooks, The New York Post

For this year only, Strome would then have the option to accept the Rangers initial arbitration ask ($3.6 million) within four days of the ruling. If not, he hits the market. 

Strome was selected by the New York Islanders in the 2011 NHL Draft, but was traded to the Rangers early in the 2018-19 season from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Ryan Spooner. He managed to put up 95 goals and 254 points in 491 career NHL games. 

And now we wonder if he will continue to do so in a Rangers’ uniform…