Stepan has avoided arbitration with the deal, and will now remain in a Rangers uniform for a long time to come.
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Recent New York Rangers news has been mostly about the contract situation of their center Derek Stepan.
The team did not release the terms of the deal, but Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that it is a six-year deal that will pay Stepan a total of million.
The Rangers have approximately $6.9 million in space under the $71.4 million salary cap for 2015-16.
Arbitration is based on comparable contracts, and Stepan objectively – statistically and as far as accomplishments on ice – had a terrific argument to be in the $7 million range compared to his peer, O’Reilly.
The long-term deal essentially splits the difference between the two offered values, likely giving Stepan a slight bump overall for committing for the remainder of his prime.
Stepan scored the winning goal in overtime of Game 7 in New York’s Eastern Conference second-round series against the Washington Capitals.
Stepan has been very consistent for the Rangers over the past five seasons, and that will result in him becoming a fairly highly paid player. He is the first Rangers center to score 50 points or more in three consecutive 82-game seasons since Wayne Gretzky. He has 15 goals, 41 points and a minus-5 rating in 80 playoff games.
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The Rangers don’t have a ton of cap space which, but they do have enough to give Stepan a fair contract. Stepan, 25, meanwhile, sought proper compensation as an invaluable part of the Rangers’ core. The two sides had been set for an arbitration hearing Monday morning in Toronto.
