Rangers Not Expected To Qualify Clendening Or Pirri

Seemingly minor news in a major article from the New York Post’s Larry Brooks today may have a substantial impact on the New York Rangers and this summer’s free agent market. Brooks reports that the New York Rangers do not plan to extend qualifying offers to impending restricted free agents Adam Clendening and Brandon Pirri. If restricted free agents are not tendered a qualifying offer, they become unrestricted free agents. The qualifying offer process, while not straightforward , is relatively pain-free for the team. For 2017, players must be offered 110% of their previous year’s salary if they made $660K or less last season, 105% if they made between $660K and $1MM, and 100% if they made over $1MM. The offer must also be a one-way contract if the player played in 180 games over the past three seasons, 60 games in 2016-17, and did not clear waivers this past season. While this may sound convoluted, it simply means that the New York Rangers only had to offer Clendening a two-way contract worth $660K, as he made $600K this past season and played in only 31 games, and Pirri a two-way contract worth $1.1MM, as he made $1.1MM this past season and played in only 170 games over the past three seasons, in order to maintain their negotiating rights. It seems as though the Rangers do not want to shoulder that burden however.

This is a familiar situation for Pirri, who was non-tendered by the Anaheim Ducks last season as well. Just 25 years old, Pirri has struggled to find a long-term NHL home, having played with four different teams in his last four seasons. He has a knack for scoring goals, which he was especially adept at in parts of three seasons with the Florida Panthers, but failed to put the puck in the net very often in New York, scoring just eight goals and 18 points total in 60 games. Though $1.1MM is not an extraordinary commitment for a young player with a good shot, the Blueshirts apparently do not feel he is worth that much when they have only limited cap space and more pressing needs to fill this summer. Pirri will again become an intriguing name on the free agent market, as some team takes a chance on an unproven player with one proven quality: goal-scoring.

The scenario with Clendening is a little more puzzling, especially taking into account the Rangers’ extension of Steven Kampfer. Much like Pirri, Clendening too has had a tough time finding his place in the NHL, having been traded three times, claimed on waivers, and non-tendered last season. That comes out to a total of six teams for a player with three years of NHL experience. Yet, Clendening had a career year in New York, posting career-highs in games played (31), points (11), and hits (22). The analytics community was especially fond of Clendening, who had an overwhelmingly positive impact on possession. Unlike Pirri, the Rangers seemed to be a good fit for the 24-year-old. Yet, the team inked the 28-year-old journeyman Kampfer to a two-year, two-way deal worth $650K (just $10,000 less than Clendending’s qualifying offer), when Kampfer is older and far less productive. In fact, the only thing that Kampfer will likely be better than Clendening at in 2017-18 is not being claimed on waivers. Perhaps that is the sole reason the Rangers chose one over the other. If not, it seems to be another evaluation mistake by the New York brass in regards to defense. With more of a bona fide resume after this past season, Clendening too should drum up some interest on the free agent market.