There are two distinct counting categories that confront NHL general managers. One is the cap. The other is the calendar.
Chris Drury appears to have done a rather fine job at tackling the first element on the Rangers’ coupon-clipping foray into the opening of the free agent market. The second, well, that is an age-old question to which the answer won’t be known for months.
In a young man’s league that trends younger by the day, the Blueshirts have become an Outpost for Old Men — at least up front following Saturday’s activity that included signing five forwards. The commonality shared by Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Tyler Pitlick, Riley Nash and Alex Belzile is they are 31 or older with all but Belzile at least age 33.
Adding these forwards to a roster featuring Mika Zibanejad (30), Chris Kreider (32), Artemi Panarin (32 at the end of October), Vincent Trocheck (30 on July 11), Barclay Goodrow (30) and Jimmy Vesey (30) indicates that the organization should probably adopt a grey jersey as an alternate sweater.
Chances are the Rangers will open in Buffalo on Oct. 12 with a roster including only three forwards younger than 30: Filip Chytil (24 on Sept. 5), Alexis Lafreniere (22 on Oct. 11), Kaapo Kakko (22). See why even if they have outgrown the “Kid” moniker, it applies here?
Maybe there will be four U30 if Will Cuylle (21) makes the team. Brennan Othmann (20) will get a look but is likely destined to start his first pro season in Hartford, as everyone in the hierarchy is aware of the perils associated with rushing blue-chippers to Broadway.
Seven or eight 30-plus forwards represents lot of age to take on the 82-game marathon before the grind of the playoffs even begins. That applies even if this squad is still quite young on the blue line with Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider and Zac Jones no older than 25 apiece.
And there will be a mixed bag in goal with Igor Shesterkin surely young enough at 27 but with newly signed backup goaltender Jonathan Quick turning 38 in January off an injury-depleted season.
Wheeler, Bonino and Quick added to Zibanejad, Kreider and Panarin is not quite Justin Verlander being added to Max Scherzer, but the Mets surely should serve as a cautionary tale to any sports team that counts on age to contend — which is what the Rangers are doing.
Of course, everything must be put in context. Everyone understands that the Rangers had a limited amount of cap capital to invest when the market opened and that Drury was going to have to be creative in order to bring some value to New York and leave enough in reserve in order to sign Miller and Lafreniere, who officially are now restricted free agents susceptible to offer sheets. Missions accomplished.
And the GM was creative in getting Wheeler, who will turn 38 in Aug. 31, on a one-year Over-35 contract with a cap hit of just $800,000 after the one-time Winnipeg captain had been bought out by the Jets. (The same applies to Quick in for an $825,000 cap hit on an Over-35 deal.)
Wheeler is the spotlight addition of the day, coming off a 55-point (16-39) season for the Jets while playing much of the time with Mark Scheifele in the middle and either Cole Perfetti or Nick Ehlers on the other side, after years with Scheifele and either Ehlers or Kyle Connor. He has been a legit first-liner through his 15-year NHL career.
Indeed, though the Minnesota native was bought out by a club undergoing a dramatic facelift that included dealing Pierre-Luc Dubois, Wheeler had his best peripheral and underlying stats across the board in five seasons and posted a positive xGF (of 50.3 pct.) for the first time since 2017-18.
There is no telling how incoming head coach Peter Laviolette will construct his top-nine. Maybe he will be the bench boss to give Chytil a real crack at centering the second line. Maybe Panarin will line up with Zibanejad. Maybe Wheeler will bookend Kreider on a third line. Regardless, a healthy Wheeler will be counted on to fill a substantial role. He is kind of the replacement for Vlad Tarasenko.
The Rangers might have added some tenacity to the mix with Saturday’s signings, though importing this group of marginal NHL fourth-line-types isn’t likely to cause Jack Hughes to lose much sleep. At the same time, though, Drury probably did create more of a splash with Wheeler than might have been anticipated for a GM confined to the shallow end of the pool.
The Blueshirts might have gotten somewhat better on Saturday. But they definitely got grayer in a lot of places in a league where everyone always seems to get younger.
Hence, age-old questions that will not be answered for months.
