For as rough as Boston’s cap situation currently is, the Rangers might just be leading the pack when it comes to financial crunches going into the 2019-20 campaign.
While New York is poised to take a big step forward thanks to a promising young core and some major free-agent additions, the big paydays doled out to Artmei Panarin ($11.6 million AAV through 2026) and Jacob Trouba ($8 million AAV through 2026) have put the Blueshirts in a tough spot — with the club already over the cap ceiling limit of $81.5 million and still without contracts for RFAs in Brendan Lemieux and Anthony DeAngelo.
With the club forced to get under the cap limit by the time October rolls around, the Rangers bit the bullet by buying out the final two years of defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk’s contract.
The Rangers will need to deal with a $6.08 million cap hit for Shattenkirk in 2020-21 and will be knocked for a $1.4 million hit in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, but they will only need to pay $1.48 million for this season, per CapFriendly, saving the team from cap hell.
Whether it be injuries or the general decline that affects all players, Shattenkirk failed to live up to the four-year, $26.6 million deal that he inked with the Rangers back in 2017 — with the 30-year-old, right-shot blueliner now set to hit the free-agent market in the closing weeks of the summer.
Shattenkirk’s injuries and dip in play could allow a club to scoop him up for great value in 2019-20, whether it be on a low AAV or even a “prove it” one-year contract.
From Boston's perspective, it would seem like the Bruins have their blue-line situation locked down, especially if/when Boston has its RFAs in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo back in the fold.
However, the case could be made
that a few vacancies might be available on the roster by the time October rolls around.
While a potential hold-out for McAvoy/Carlo likely stands as more of a short-term crisis for Boston, the B’s D corps is also an area that could be diced up as Boston looks to clear up some cap space — with players like Kevan Miller ($2.5 million AAV) and John Moore ($2.75 million) potentially serving as trade chips, although injuries could force both players to stand as LTIR candidates to open the year.
Still, whether it be those two D-men or even a potential deal involving Torey Krug (likely a last resort, but one that has to be on the table for cap relief), there stands a chance that a spot could available for Shattenkirk on a low-risk, high-reward contract if Don Sweeney opts to pick apart his D corps, rather than search for a painful deal involving David Backes.
But even if Shattenkirk is an intriguing option in the event that Boston opts to get creative this offseason, the Bruins should avoid bringing him aboard.
While he was far from a perfect, two-way force from the blue line in his prime, Shattenkirk provided plenty of value as a minutes-eating, offensive presence during his prime seasons with the St. Louis Blues — surpassing 40 points in six of his first seven seasons in the NHL (the lone season he did not was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign).
However, a meniscus injury he suffered during the preseason in his first year with the Rangers started what has been a concerning decline for the BU product, as Shattenkirk was only able to log 46 games with the Blueshirts in 2017-18.
Last year was even more troubling, with the veteran limited to just two goals and 26 total points despite playing in 73 games.
Even if the Rangers’ 5v5 shot rates ticked up above the league average both down low and near Shattenkirk’s usual spot on the blue line when he was out on the ice in 2018-19, his impact was far what the Rangers were likely expecting from a veteran labeled as an offensive catalyst.
Despite leading all Rangers (min. 10 games played) in terms of offensive zone faceoff percentage (55.59%), his goals for per 60-minute rate of 2.09 ranked 14th amongst New York skaters that logged at least 50 minutes of 5v5 TOI — and fifth amongst Rangers defensemen.
Not exactly the type of production (39 5v5 Rangers goals in 1,121 minutes of TOI for Shattenkirk) the Rangers are looking for when their expected top offensive defenseman is out on the ice and in favorable situations in the O-zone.
Even if Shattenkirk is scooped up by a team looking for a lift on the power play, he’s also taken a big step back in that area, ranking 12th on the club in terms of GF/60 in 176 minutes of power-play reps.
(A slight bump in shot rates when Shattenkirk was deployed on the power play, but not nearly good enough for a skater lauded as a man-advantage QB during his time in St. Louis. )
Of course, when looking at a fit from just the Bruins' perspective, there remains the reality that Shattenkirk could still be a bit too pricey for the Bruins — even if they were to clear a player like Miller, Krug or Moore.
After all, other clubs in need of a bit more help on the blue line like the Blue Jackets, Sabres, Jets and Devils could fork over more cash to address a more pressing area of need.
And let’s not overlook that Boston already has a slew of younger players waiting to snag more ice time, headlined by Connor Clifton and Urho Vaakanainen.
But even beyond the more tangible restrictions facing the Bruins when it comes to adding Shattenkirk, the veteran’s own drop in production should be cause enough to steer clear.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Corsica and HockeyViz.
