New York Rangers linked to 2x Stanley Cup Champion: Chris Drury urged to make a drastic move
Photo credit: The Register-Herald
The New York Rangers have a chance to add some meaningful depth to their forward group. With the mutual termination of Brandon Saad's contract with the St. Louis Blues, he could be an affordable free agent.
Brandon Saad is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, who played the majority of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Since then he's bounced from Colorado to the St. Louis Blues organization. The same organization that GM Doug Armstrong has terminated his contract with, as it seems he's refused to be reassigned to the AHL.
This meant, he's given up $5 million dollars to find himself a new home in the NHL. GM Chris Drury could scoop him up at a discount.
Last season with the Blues, he scored 42 points (26 G, 16 A) in 81 games with the Blues. Despite this being a down year for the forward, scoring only 16 points ( 7 G, 9 A) in 43 games.
He could provide some leadership on the ice for the Rangers, and some tips and tricks for the postseason, if the team gets that far this year.
While he could be a great candidate for the Rangers on left-wing, it'd mean they would have to sit or send another forward to the AHL.
And with the season Will Cuylle, Adam Edstrom, Artemi Panarin, and Chris Kreider are having it might be tough to break into the lineup.
Although, arguably he could fit in on a third-line role elsewhere.
There is still hope to play in the NHL, but his initial $4.5 million cap is too much money for a lot of teams to take on. Hitting the free agent market opens up the opportunity for teams to acquire him at a much lower price tag.
Saad was going to be an expensive player for the Springfield Thunderbird club. But instead of brushing up his game at the minor-league level has chosen another path: termination.
He'll have to convince NHL GMs to take a shot on him, and after his $4.5 million deal was just terminated, he may have to accept a league minimum deal.
That is considering, no NHL team would trade with the Blues for him despite the permission from GM Doug Armstrong to see if he had any suitors.
Saad has played in 906 NHL games and scored 515 points (260 G, 255 A) and could find a spot on a contender that could use him.
But will he be humble enough to take less than what he was making with the Blues?
Previously on NYRangersInsider
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