The Rangers are all in after paying a steep price Sunday to acquire defenseman Keith Yandle for their playoff push, and Mats Zuccarello will be sticking around long-term to enjoy the ride.
With cap room saved in the deal for Yandle, the Rangers were able to agree in principle to a four-year, $18 million ($4.5 AAV) contract extension with the forward, according to the New York Daily News and other reports. The deal is pending negotiations on a no-trade clause and will be finalized once that is settled, the report said.
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Zuccarello, 27, was scheduled to become a free agent after the season and was the surprise subject of trade rumors ahead of Monday's deadline. Besides the obvious advantage of adding Yandle to a roster that appears ready to compete for the Stanley Cup, getting Zuccarello's extension done before the summer relieves the Rangers of one less headache once the offseason begins.
The Rangers' win-now situation is becoming more dire, as evidenced by their trade for Yandle. To make that happen, they shipped prized forward prospect Anthony Duclair, defenseman John Moore, a first-round pick in 2016 and their 2015 second-rounder to Arizona. The Coyotes agreed to pay 50 percent of Yandle's salary over the final year and a half of his contract as part of the deal, decreasing his cap hit to $2.625 million and allowing the Rangers the room to re-up Zuccarello.
Zuccarello is enjoying another successful season following his breakout 2013-14, playing big minutes on the Rangers' second line and power-play units. He has 12 goals and 35 points in 59 games with a plus-13 rating.
The cap-strapped Rangers already will need to find to way to keep restricted free agents Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin, J.T. Miller, Dylan McIlrath and others this offseason. And that's on top of re-signing Martin St. Louis, should they decide to do so, who is a pending unrestricted free agent.
After the trade for Yandle, the Rangers do not own a draft pick in the first round until 2017. So they're all in for this year, and it will help now that Zuccarello is in tow.