Thoughts on the unsigned RFAs – are holdouts a possibility?

We are about one month from the start of training camp, and the Rangers still have some unfinished business. They’ve put together a tremendous offseason, but still have yet to sign two RFAs in Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux. This isn’t overly surprising since neither have negotiating leverage, but it’s still cutting it close. As per usual, I have some thoughts.

1. The Rangers have a history of letting their non-arbitration RFAs go this long, so there isn’t really any concern to be had yet. Of course yet is the operative term here, as the longer this drags out, the bigger a chance one or both misses time with contract issues. The last time I remember that happening was with Marc Staal.…