How come no news on re-signing Stepan?

Anyone have any idea why this isnt done or close to done? I know he isnt arbitration eleigible, so not really a big rush, but kind thought this would quickly follow the Hags signing...

i would think this would take a while as this is an unusual case

I hope it doesn't take too long. He seriously gets better every game he plays. Why do you say its unusual?

Its unusual because he is an RFA that is not arbitration eligible. Most RFA's are arbitration eligible.....

For all my hockey knowledge, I've never really paid attention to what arbitration is.If someone would explain it, I'd be very grateful. I pay more attention to the game itself, rather than the nuances of contract negotiation.

from what I understand, an RFA who feels he is being lowballed or just wants to gain more leverage can file for arbitration. The hearing is set for usually a month later. If the two sides fail to come to an agreement before the hearing, both sides then make their cases to an arbitration panel which comes up with a final amount. The team can either accept the arbitration award or decline. If they accept, that's the player's salary. If they decline, the player becomes a UFA.

Most players must have four years of NHL experience before they are eligible for salary arbitration (the term is reduced for those who signed their first NHL contract after the age of 20). The process is used by restricted free agents, because it is one of the few bargaining options available to them.

So in other words, the original contract is an entry level contract, if the player does not have more than four years in the NHL, he is a restricted free agent and not eligble for arbitration. This gives the team all the leverage as the player does not have many options once a team submits their offer. The option is ....take it..or....hold out.

Derek has gotten a little better every year with us, and he was good to begin with. I look for him to realy do well this season. They should get this signing done soon.

Sather is not in a position to low ball Stepan. This isn't a case like Dubinsky or Cally where those guys weren't near a point per game early on in their careers.

Boy, it sure sounds like not much in the till for stepan at this moment who is a must sign. Get busy glen and start making some payroll space. I'll help you for the first one to go which should be boyle and leave the rest to you.

dumppyattnow said:

Sather is not in a position to low ball Stepan. This isn't a case like Dubinsky or Cally where those guys weren't near a point per game early on in their careers.

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A good shortened season does not, in any way, make Stepan "near a point per game" player. Not when in the previous 164gms of his career he didn't even get to 0.6

We do agree Sather should not F around with Stepan and just get him signed. Getting a young 2nd line center like him locked up is important.

Yes it does. You obviously aren't paying attention to the world of modern sports. It's what you did last year with agents. Not what you did over 5 years.

How an agent may sell a player to a team has nothing to do with what that player really is. But Stepan's good 48gms should not make anyone here think he's near a point-per-game player.

I absolutely think he's a point per game player off of those 48 games. He was averaging much more than a PPG for about a 25-30 game stretch. You don't that when you aren't a PPG player. Average players don't get that hot for 20 to 30 game stretches. They get hot for at most, 10 games. Also, he did that with a coach who had no clue offensively. Stepan had 35 points in his last 30 games. Only 7 of those points were on the PP. Just imagine how many more points he could have with a coach who knows how to run a PP.

dumppyattnow said:

I absolutely think he's a point per game player off of those 48 games. He was averaging much more than a PPG for about a 25-30 game stretch. You don't that when you aren't a PPG player. Average players don't get that hot for 20 to 30 game stretches. They get hot for at most, 10 games. Also, he did that with a coach who had no clue offensively. Stepan had 35 points in his last 30 games. Only 7 of those points were on the PP. Just imagine how many more points he could have with a coach who knows how to run a PP.

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Dump, agree 100%. Clinching argument is your last 3 lines.

Stepan clearly is a player on the rise. His PPG total has risen all three years he has been in the league.

to be a pt per game player you need to be pretty consistent for 82gms, something Stepan has yet to show he can do. He's had too many long stretches of disappearing acts to make me think we can take a 30gm sample and simply say he's going to put up similar production in 2.5x as many games. History isn't there.

If i look at Centers in the last full season who had around a point per game i get Malkin, Stamkos, Giroux, Spezza, Tavares, Sedin & Eberle. Stepan is simply not in that category of players. 60-65pts is probably reasonable expectations for him next year.

I'm not quite convinced Stepan is a point a game player (82 points every season is pretty damn hard to do), but he should be close to it. Not only did he do this for a defense oriented team, he also did it with a revolving door for linemates. I pray that AV makes some solid lines and sticks with them for more than one game at a time. That drove me mad about Torts.

Stepan has no arbitration rights. That means that he is going to wait until September to sign. The Rangers signed Moore and Pouliot. That would mean that Boyle and Pyatt could be gone as well as Powe or Asham and Aaron Johnson to the minors. That would give them 6.2 million to sign Stepan. I would think he will get about 5 million.

two words Brandon Dubinski

I was waiting for somebody to make that dumb comparison. I'm shocked it was Al. It is a very dumb comparison. The two players are nothing alike. One, Dubinsky has never come close to doing what Stepan did last year. Dubinsky has never had a 30 game stretch where he had over a point per game. He's never come close to having a point per game season. His best year was 54 points in 77 games. The only stretches Dubinsky has is when he barely has a point over 10 to 20 games. Two, Dubinsky is a dumb offensive player. He has no offensive creativity. He doesn't make his line-mates better. Three, Dubinsky is a below average passer. Players like that never reach PPG or close to it status. Four, Dubinsky is a terrible PP player. Stepan is about the only reason our PP ever scores. He's a very good PP player. He just needs a coach who understands how to coach offense. Five, Dubinsky is lazy. He's lazy on the ice and lazy in his training. Stepan is not that way.

Dubinsky is a player with great intangibles who should be better than he is at this point in his career. Comparing him to Stepan is absurd. Stepan has an offensive game that Dubinsky can't ever dream of. Most of us hoped that Dubinsky would be a 20 G 30 A center. That is a very good player when you factor in his intangibles. There isn't one person on this board who wouldn't be disappointed if that is all Stepan was. A 50 point player.

There was a point where I thought Dubinsky was better all around than Parise. That was coming off his 54 point season. Parise is a good scorer but I think the rest of his game is vastly overrated. If you look at Parise's last two seasons offensively, they are not that impressive when you factor in he doesn't do much else but score. However, Dubinsky turned into an offensive imbecile after that 54 point season. Again, maybe this was the coach. This year in Columbus should really tell you what Dubinsky is.

BigDaddyAl1973 said:

two words Brandon Dubinski

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It is Brandon Dubinsky. I think he was from Czech decent not Polish decent. He can still turn it around in Columbus.
Stepan could be a lot better than him. I also thought Rangers had 1.4 million in open cap space.
Since Cap Geek is saying they have 2.1 million in open space then they should have 6.9 million not 6.2 million in cap space.
That should give them space to sign Stepan. It hey trade Girardi then it should be even more.
Unfortunately this will go to the start of training camp.

NYRangersFan said:

Stepan has no arbitration rights. That means that he is going to wait until September to sign. The Rangers signed Moore and Pouliot. That would mean that Boyle and Pyatt could be gone as well as Powe or Asham and Aaron Johnson to the minors. That would give them 6.2 million to sign Stepan. I would think he will get about 5 million.

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No way will he get 5m, he's definately not worth much over 4 yet. If they gave him 5 then they're back to bad cap mgmt. again. The most they'll probably have after Powe/Asham/dman to the minors is probably around 5 total. I'd say for Stepan 4/18 is plenty fair. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they keep the avg. under 4 per.

Gee I'm sorry but the kid did lead the team in scoring...you had such a hard on for him...he has a bad season and now he is garbage

the dimished mind of a soon to be 40 year old

BigDaddyAl1973 said:

Gee I'm sorry but the kid did lead the team in scoring...you had such a hard on for him...he has a bad season and now he is garbage

the dimished mind of a soon to be 40 year old

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Not sure what you're talking about Al, I never did.

71 that was to dump

the dimished mind of a soon to be 40 year old

Oh ok sorry then.

No big

the dimished mind of a soon to be 40 year old

Again Al, your comparison was stupid. He led the team in scoring with 54 points in 77 games. All that tells you is that the team sucked offensively. Stepan had 44 points in 48 games. You are trying to compare a player with a low offensive IQ in Dubinsky to a kid with a very high offensive IQ in Stepan. You are trying to compare a player that can't pass well in Dubinsky to a guy who is already one of the top 30 playmakers in the NHL in Stepan. It makes no sense.

Dubinsky is basically a 20 G 30 A, good intangible forward on a great year. Stepan is on an entirely other level.

BigDaddyAl1973 said:

Gee I'm sorry but the kid did lead the team in scoring...you had such a hard on for him...he has a bad season and now he is garbage

the dimished mind of a soon to be 40 year old

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Stepan's is dump's latest binky, just like Dubi was way back when, so it's kind of a moot point to discuss as right now Stepan can do no wrong and Dubi can do no right with him.

I will say that Dubi and Stepan are very different players and that Stepan's offensive potential does exceed that of Dubi's, but there is def merit to Dubi leading the team in goal scoring back in the '10-11 season. Cally and Gabby each missed 20gms that year and Gabby only had 22gls that season. Dubi at that time was projecting to be a very good, all around player but the year after that was very disappointing with only 34pts. This past season in Columbus he had 20pts in 29gms which prorates to about 56pts over 82gms, so he might be turning it around again. Next year is big for him.

It's funny that only the hot 30gms for Stepan seems to be what counts when projecting him as a future (let alone current) pt-per-game player. What about the first 19gms where he only had 10pts, or the playoffs where he had 5 in 12. Why wasn't he a point per game player then? we really could have used more scoring in the playoffs when we couldn't score for crap.

Because of those inconsistencies is that i'm not yet ready to call him a point a game player and obviously is never going to be in the same category is the Crosby, Malkin, Giroux, Stamkos of the world who are the 1st tier of centers. Stepan should settle in nicely as a type of player who gives you 60-65pts and plays solid 2-way hockey. Lot of value in that.