On the opening day of NHL free agency, the New York Rangers took care of an important piece of business, when they re-signed Will Cuylle to a reported two-year, $7.8 million contract on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old forward was a restricted free agent coming off his first 20-goal season in the NHL. There was concern that Cuylle could receive an offer sheet from another team since the Rangers didn't have much salary cap space. But this fair deal for each side eliminates that concern and keeps a very important part of the new Rangers core in place.
Cuylle began last season on the third line and wound up playing plenty of top-six minutes as the season progressed. Though the team crumbled around him, Cuylle thrived with a breakout season. He scored 20 goals, totaled 45 points and tied for third in the NHL with a Rangers-record 301 hits. He received time on penalty kill and power play, and his average TOI jumped nearly four minutes from his rookie season in 2023-24 to 15:05 last season.
The second-round pick (No. 60 overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft emerged as the prime example of what general manager Chris Drury wants more of on this team: a hard-working, straight-ahead, physical, skilled, diligent, 200-foot player. It felt all along that the Rangers would do whatever it takes in order to keep Cuylle in New York.
Cuylle has missed just one game over his first two full seasons in the NHL. In 167 NHL games, he has 66 points (33 goals, 33 assists) and 108 penalty minutes.
Related: New York Rangers 2025 NHL free agency tracker: Latest signings, analysis, trades, rumors
Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
The Rangers also signed free-agent defenseman Vladisalv Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million contract Tuesday. That leaves the Rangers with approximately $2 million in cap space .
That's not nearly enough to re-sign restricted free agent defenseman K'Andre Miller, whom the Rangers have been shopping all offseason. So, reports indicate that Miller is being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes , likely for a package headlined by draft picks, though details are still being worked out.
Gavrikov will replace Miller on the left side of the Rangers defense corps. The 29 year-old, who's coming off his best season with the Los Angeles Kings , will join Adam Fox on New York's top defense pair.
Barring other personnel moves, Braden Schneider could shift from the right side to the left and form a shutdown second pair pair with Will Borgen . And the third pair could include any combination of Carson Soucy , Urho Vaakanainen and/or Matthew Robertson .
Larry Brooks reported in the New York Post that the Rangers could receive right-shot defenseman Scott Morrow in the Miller trade.
It'll be interesting to see where Sullivan envisions Cuylle lining up next season. But it's hard to imagine the emerging star won't be in the top six, perhaps on the left of J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanajed.
Those are story angles for another day, and Sullivan has months to think it over. Right now, the Rangers can exhale and know that they have Will Cuylle locked up for the next two seasons.
Related Headlines
