Fringe Signings (July 15)

The New York Rangers have been cleaning up a lot of their restricted free agents, trying to get them to sign on the dotted line of their qualifying offers in an effort to save space for Derek Stepan's new deal, which has yet to be signed.  A couple players signed on Wednesday fit the bill of fringe players for the hockey pool, as Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller each signed new deals, each 1-year contracts, both less than $1 million.

Both Fast and Miller showed some real flash and skill in the playoffs and given enough ice-time in 2016, I think they're both due to make an appearance in the pool, in varying capacities.  The Rangers are in a bit of cap trouble, so the team will definitely rely upon these kind of guys for quality minutes, which should add up to points.

It wasn't a very good 2015 season for Penguins forward Beau Bennett, as wrist surgery sidelined him to start the year, a lower-body injury sidelined him again at the end of November and then he had a rough go of things through the year as well. In total, he was only good for 49 games and 12 points, which was not very pool worthy.

The top six in Pittsburgh is going to be a tough place to crack for a lineup spot this year, since last year's pick-ups in Patric Hornqvist and David Perron are still around and then they added Phil Kessel to the mix, there isn't a great deal of space alongside both Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.  If he can do it, he'll be in good shape for better than fringe points.

The Colorado Avalanche signed one of the elements of the Ryan O'Reilly deal to a new deal, as Mikhail Grigorenko, a restricted free agent out of Buffalo, signed a new 1-year deal, a cap number was not disclosed.  The 2012 1st round pick has not panned out quite like the Sabres had wanted him to, so he'll officially get a shot with his former junior coach in Colorado, Patrick Roy.

A new opportunity with a young team and a familiar coach bumps Grigorenko into the fringe, even with some very sub-par numbers in 2015.  In 25 games, he only managed 6 points, ranking him 400th among all forwards.  I think there is a real sleeper possibility here.