The mega offer for Rangers’ young star will turn out to be a bargain

The New York Rangers reportedly agreed to terms with Alexis Lafreniere, one of their youngest players, on Friday, and it could end up being an incredible win-win deal for both the team and the player.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Lafreniere’s new deal will be a seven-year contract worth a total of $52.1 million. That means a salary cap hit of $7.45 million per season. That new deal will begin next season and run until the end of the 2031-32 season.

The Rangers selected Lafreniere with the No. 1 overall pick. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and have made him a key part of their rebuild. After several years of inconsistent play and the lack of a clear role under former head coach Gerard Gallant, Lafreniere finally began to break out in the 2023-24 season. Now he appears to be on his way to becoming the star player the Rangers hoped he would be when they selected him with the top pick.

After scoring a career-high 28 goals and 57 points in the regular season a year ago, Lafreniere has been one of the Rangers’ best players in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and is off to a terrific start this season with four goals and three assists. the team’s first seven games.

What makes it such a good deal for the Rangers is that a cap hit of $7.45 million isn’t even among the top 85 salary cap numbers in the NHL, and in a few years it almost certainly will be even lower in the ranking, as more long-term contracts are signed. Assuming Lafreniere continues his current trajectory — and there’s no reason to think he won’t — he should surpass that number in a year or two. It’s also a contract that buys him early years in the NHL when he should be scoring at his peak rates. It’s not out of the question to think he could be a 35-40 goal scorer and 90 plus point player in a few years.

It’s also a win for Lafreniere because when his contract expires, he’ll still only be 30 years old. That would allow him to reach unrestricted free agency at a point in his career when he should have several years of major league play ahead of him, and potentially cash in on at least one more big contract in his NHL career.

With Lafreniere’s contract up, the next order of business for the Rangers will be to sign starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a long-term deal. He is their best and most important player and is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season. He will likely reset the goalie market and set a new high point for the position. It’s just a matter of whether or not the Rangers are the team that’s willing to meet that price.