Rangers, Stepan duck arbitration with 6-year, $39M deal

The Rangers and center Derek Stepan barely avoided their scheduled salary arbitration hearing in Toronto Monday when the two sides agreed on a new six-year contract worth $39 million.

The annual average (and cap hit) of $6.5 million is slightly above the mid-point between the number presented by Stepan’s side ($7.25 million per) and the Rangers ($5.2 million), but if the arbitration process had been completed, Stepan, 25, would be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2017.

In that case he would have leverage for a much larger contract, and the Rangers might have had to trade him.

Stepan’s new deal includes a no-trade clause for the first three or four years, then a partial no-trade for which he will submit 15 teams to which he would accept a trade in the final two years. His sixth year also includes just a $5 million salary, of which $3 million is signing bonus, as protection against the next expected owners lockout.

Now new Rangers GM Jeff Gorton has all his players signed, but with only about $600,000 left under the cap.

“These things take a lot of time,” Stepan said. “We’re talking, essentially for me, a life-changing contract. We wanted to make sure that both sides were happy with the direction the talks were going and then it came down to making sure that we get the structure and we get (something) where both sides are happy.

“It went all the way to the door, but I think Jeff did a great job … there wasn’t any bad blood through the whole thing. It always seemed that we were close and it was just a matter of just getting over one hump here and one hump there. It went the way I expected it to and it went the way that I wanted it to. Hats off to him and to my agent for doing it the way they did.”

Gorton handled his first real challenge as GM by signing a player he believes is integral on and off the ice.

“Derek is a player we know real well, and to see what he's done in this league, the success he's had, the leadership qualities he has, this is one of the guys we want to build around," Gorton told the team’s web site, Blueshirts United.

"Derek does a little bit of everything and everyone here is confident with him moving forward. He kills penalties and plays on the power play, plays 5-on-5, 4-on-4, 4-on-3, up a goal, down a goal. He's always out there. That's an asset for a coach to have a player like that.”

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