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Rangers offseason filled with questions

Brad Richards

New York Rangers center Brad Richards (19) reacts after a second period goal by the Los Angeles Kings during Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 9, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

AP

The New York Rangers’ loss in five games of the Stanley Cup Final is disappointing for the fans. Seeing the team make it as far as they did is a point of pride, as is how they handled themselves against the Los Angeles Kings.

The bar is set to exceed what they did this season next year and to do that the Rangers and GM Glen Sather have some hard decisions to make.

According to CapGeek.com, the Rangers have nearly $54 million committed to the salary cap next season to 13 players. That means they have to fill out their roster on a nearly $17 million budget to fill 10 spots. That also likely means Brad Richards’ future in New York is highly in doubt.

The Rangers have one remaining compliance buyout and it would be shocking if they don’t use it on Richards. The talk of him being bought out has been going since last summer. It came up again during the playoffs and his $6.67 million cap hit over the next six seasons coupled with his poor playoff production makes him a prime, and likely, candidate to give the Rangers lots of breathing room under the cap.

Richards is still a good player, he’s just not nearly $7 million per season against the cap good at this point.

That added space would be huge as the Rangers have five restricted free agents to re-sign and three of them are big ones. Chris Kreider, Derick Brassard, and Mats Zuccarello were all key forwards in the regular season and playoffs and will be looking for a raise.

Toss in unrestricted free agent forwards Benoit Pouliot, Brian Boyle, Dominic Moore, and defenseman Anton Stralman (who will undoubtedly get a big offer) and it’s looking as though the Rangers will have a much different look if they’re going to make a run at the Cup next season.

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