Earlier this week, Larry Brooks made waves by stating Kevin Shattenkirk may be headed towards a buyout. The prized acquisition of the 2017 offseason, Shattenkirk was signed to a very team friendly four year deal at $6.65 million per season. The Rangers were getting a massive upgrade on the recently bought out Dan Girardi, and finally had that top pairing RD to go with Ryan McDonagh.
But that’s not what happened at all. Shattenkirk tore his meniscus in the preseason and was hampered by it all year. Alain Vigneault gave Shattenkirk/McDonagh a whopping 5 shifts together as a top pairing before relegating Shatty to 3rd pairing duties, eventually taking him off the top powerplay unit as well.