Late on Thursday night, Every day Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the New York Rangers are laborious at work on a long-term extension for ahead Alexis Lafreniere. Seravalli notes that sources indicated the deal might be eight years and better than $8 million per season.
The NHL insider defined that issues with Lafreniere have been placed on maintain for a bit whereas the Rangers tried to get goaltender Igor Shesterkin signed earlier than the season. After failing to take action, the membership has pivoted again to engaged on the Lafreniere deal, which was reportedly effectively down the street. A part of the delay is the cap hit, for the reason that Rangers must maintain each the offers for Lafreniere and Shesterkin in thoughts as he’s negotiating.
Seravalli notes that a few choices are on the desk, however that it received’t fall beneath $7 million, relying on the time period. The Rangers have been doing a variety of work on that file. You see his begin to the season, two factors on Wednesday night time for New York. I’m informed that they made some fairly important progress over the summer time, I’m informed that talks are ongoing…”
Seravalli added that this can be a huge second for the Rangers as they attempt to put their cap image collectively and it’s an enormous second for Lafreniere as that is doubtless the largest contract he’ll get to register his NHL profession. He famous that at 22, Lafreniere is absolutely simply scratching the floor for this crew, particularly after a monster playoff run in 2023-24. “They’re gonna must maintain this man.”
A cap hit of over $8 million per season appears excessive, however the Rangers are banking on the truth that the ahead is simply going to get higher. Ought to he take a bounce from his 57-point season (14 factors in 16 playoff video games), the hope is that this winds up being a team-friendly deal within the latter years of the extension.
Subsequent: Panthers Aleksander Barkov Probably Injured in Sport vs. Senators