7/10/18 | 10:02AM: Tampa Bay has announced that Kucherov has signed an eight-year extension that will carry a cap hit of $9.5 million.

The extension starts following this coming season.

9:50AM: Larry Brooks writes that the Rangers are "maintaining a level of interest" in bringing Ryan Callahan back via trade if Tampa looks to clear the final two-years of his contract. (NY Post)

Callahan has a cap hit of $5.8 million and a list of 16 teams that he can be traded to. (Cap Friendly)

Brooks writes that Jeff Gorton and the Rangers would "presumably be seeking a draft sweetener" as part of taking on Callahan's contract. (NY Post)

Callahan has been mentioned as someone that the Rangers could acquire to ease cap issues, both relating to a possible Erik Karlsson deal with Tampa as well as just for cap clearing purposes.

The Rangers traded Callahan, a pending UFA, as part of a package to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline in 2014 in exchange for a package including Marty St. Louis.

In 255 regular season games with Tampa, Callahan has 47 goals and 68 assists while averaging 16:23 per game. He has played in 60 playoff games with Tampa, registering 15 points.

Jeff Gorton said that the Rangers are interested in adding character players that can help the Rangers develop their young players.

Callahan's cap hit has also been mentioned as a potential hurdle towards the Rangers keeping cap flexibility for next summer.

Adam Rotter: The biggest question that keeps coming up around Callahan is why the Rangers would do this. Why would they, as a rebuilding team, help a potential Eastern Rival by taking on the final two-years of an oft-injured player and taking away a potential roster spot from a young player? Is a guarantee of a first round pick, up from the conditional second round pick they currently own, worth it for Callahan? I think, to some degree, it depends on how the Rangers expect Tampa to use that cap space. If the Lightning are landing Erik Karlsson as part of this, I think the Rangers need at least one more, maybe two conditional picks in addition to the first rounder. If Tampa is making this move with the intention to use their new cap space to keep Kucherov, I think maybe one other conditional pick would work. So that would be one reason why the Rangers would take on Callahan, the addition of a prime asset, but the other reason is that Callahan can add something to this team. If Ryan Callahan is healthy he would likely bring the same kind of style of play he brought when he was initially with the Rangers and worked his way up to being captain. Callahan would set a tone and example for the young players and those are things that the Rangers want as part next years team. Is he the best person to for that? That is debatable, especially since he has two-years left, but he is also a known quantity to the organization. If the Rangers bring back Ryan Callahan, and very likely put the "C" back on him, they will know exactly what they are getting on and off the ice. As long as the Rangers can get something, in addition to a guaranteed first round pick, and still retain flexibility to be a player in the UFA market next summer, adding Callahan would not be a bad thing.

Popular in the Community