Regarding the post-deadline Rangers:
1. Other than the two locker room-wrenching deals in which the Rangers sent away pending free agents Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes in exchange for anticipated going-rate rental packages, nothing surrounding Monday’s deadline affected the Blueshirts nearly as much as Vegas extending Mark Stone for eight years at an annual $9.5 million cap hit after acquiring the winger from Ottawa.
Because if Stone, a nice player who can score but who has never been considered an elite talent, was able to command that price in a no-tax state, you’d have to expect pending free agent Artemi Panarin’s price to come to high-tax New York to play for the Rangers will come in at around $11 million per for seven seasons.