Rangers Avoid With Brassard As Well

The New York Rangers have done it again! Avoiding an arbitration hearing with the third of three restricted free agents, who were scheduled to have such a hearing to talk about the pros and cons over the last season. The third being Derick Brassard, who came away with a 5-year, $25 million deal on Sunday, leaving defenseman John Moore as the only remaining major RFA to sign this Summer.

Brassard's new deal will now take him into unrestricted free agency, as this was the last time he would be eligible under the RFA guidelines.

The 26-year old forward had a good year in the Big Apple in 2014, scoring 18 goals and 45 points in 81 games with the Rangers, which had him ranked 138th overall in pool scoring, 101st among all forwards.

In the playoffs, Brassard played a big role in the team's run to the Stanley Cup Finals (12 points in 23 games), which should have given the long-term Ranger a great deal of confidence going into his second full season in a blue shirt.  Brassard was dealt to New York from Columbus at the 2013 season at the trade deadline and hasn't looked back since.

At first look at some of the projections for the 2015 season, I don't have Brassard as high as his 45 points to start my studying, expecting just a shade less, putting him in the 40-point bracket, working my 5-point brackets for sorting purposes.  There wasn't enough in his game to boost his numbers, plus the changes in the overall scope of the team was another reason to stay closer to the status quo.

Now, the Rangers are working their way into a bit of a tight spot with their projected roster and their remaining cap space.  The team now has 18 players on their roster, 11 forwards, five defenders and a goaltending tandem, coming in at $64.1 million, leaving about $4.9 million left to spend on a maximum of five more roster spots.  At this rate, it doesn't look like the Rangers will run with all 23 players, which should help their cause on the books, especially with Brassard being the fifth player to be in the $5 million and above cap hit range.