Rangers ‘thrilled’ to sign Gavrikov, look to improve play in own zone

As the New York Rangers took stock of their roster and areas of priority entering free agency, the same issue kept coming up.

"To me it starts in our (own) zone," general manager Chris Drury said Wednesday. "(Defensive)-zone coverage. Defending, certainly defending in the high-danger areas, which we simply put were not good at last year."

Enter Vladislav Gavrikov on a seven-year, $49 million contract the defenseman signed with the Rangers on Tuesday.

Exit K'Andre Miller; the defenseman was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday for a first-round pick, a second-round selection and defenseman Scott Morrow before signing an eight-year, $60 million contract with them ($7.5 million average annual value).

The decision to go with a 29-year-old Gavrikov instead of a 25-year-old Miller came down to the attributes the Rangers value most in a big left-handed defenseman.

"We have to be better in our zone," Drury said. "We have to be better in front of 'Shesty' (Igor Shesterkin) and 'Quickie' (Jonathan Quick)."

New York wasn’t last season, when it allowed 137 goals from the high danger area, sixth most in the NHL.

Miller, of course, isn't solely to blame for that, but there was some stagnation in his defensive game, which is true of the Rangers as a whole, and the idea of committing big dollars and a lot of years at a time he could command it as a restricted free agent and offer-sheet candidate pushed New York to seek a trade partner instead.

Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky said he thinks Miller is a perfect fit for their style of play.

"I think his skating and recovery speed is going to be really effective for us," Tulsky said. "When we want guys to get up the ice, they need to be able to get back too. His natural ability and his skating is going to make it really effective for us."

The Rangers do not disagree. They know how good Miller already is and how much better he can get in his prime years. They're certainly not debating the contract he received.

But they had other ideas for how they want to improve.

They did that with Gavrikov. He's four years older than Miller, but the Rangers see him as a better fit to solve what was arguably their biggest issue last season -- defending.

"That's the mindset he shows up with every single day," Drury said. "The size, the reach, the competitiveness, the way he defends, the way he's able to complement his partner whether that's (Adam) Fox or any other right-shot (defenseman) that we have. That's what excited all of us in targeting this player. Thrilled to be able to have him as a key part of that (defense) corps."

The simple fit is to have Gavrikov and Fox make up the Rangers' top defense pair. Under coach Peter Laviolette the past two seasons and Gerard Gallant before that, they were reluctant to use Miller and Fox together.

Mike Sullivan was hired as Laviolette’s replacement on May 2.

With Gavrikov, Fox would be free to get up in the rush, to skate, to control the puck, because he'll know his defense-first partner will be behind him as his style is more to stay back and control the game from a defense-first mentality.

Gavrikov had 30 points (five goals, 25 assists) and was plus-26 in 82 regular-season games for the Los Angeles Kings last season. He also led them with 140 blocked shots and played 23:05 per game, second behind Drew Doughty (24:08), who only played 30 games.

"A big shutdown defenseman that has a lot of qualities of an elite shutdown guy," Drury said.

The Gavrikov-Miller swap, if you will, also netted the Rangers two high draft picks and Morrow, three assets that can be utilized any which way they want going forward.

The Rangers signed forward Will Cuylle to a two-year, $7.8 million contract ($3.9 million AAV), taking him out of the mix for a potential offer sheet.

Cuylle had 45 points (20 goals, 25 assists) in 82 games last season, up from 21 points (13 goals, eight assists) in 81 games as a rookie in 2023-24. He's 23 and the Rangers view him as a huge part of their present and future.

"What he does not only offensively, but in every other which way in how he competes and hits and fights and plays the right way every single day," Drury said. "Happy to have him done."

New York also added a depth forward in Taylor Raddysh, who signed a two-year, $3 million contract ($1.5 million AAV) on Wednesday. Drury said Raddysh could be a fit on the third line.

All of it is a work in progress with many questions still to be answered, including if the Rangers still view Mika Zibanejad as a center or if he is now slotted as a right wing with J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck the top two centers.

Drury, by the way, would not answer that question, leaving it to Sullivan and his staff to determine during training camp.

For now, the Rangers feel they have shored up their biggest issue while adding assets and slightly saving on the $95.5 million salary cap.