{"id":6241,"date":"2025-06-22T20:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T20:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6241\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T20:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T20:59:07","slug":"rangers-among-vladislav-gavrikovs-preferred-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6241\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Among Vladislav Gavrikov’s Preferred Destinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

If\u00a0Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>reaches the open market next week, there will be a high level of mutual interest between him and the Rangers. His preference remains to iron out an extension with the Kings, but if he\u2019s unable to do so, New York is on a \u201cshort list of teams he is interested in joining,\u201d writes David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gavrikov has already been tagged as one of the Rangers\u2019 top free-agent targets<\/a> as they look to reshape a blue line that\u2019s already undergone major surgery since the beginning of 2024-25. If signed, he would presumably come at the expense of pending RFA\u00a0K\u2019Andre Miller<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s signing rights being traded elsewhere. New York has received strong interest on the trade market regarding the young defender, and with Gavrikov projected to command nearly $8MM per season on a long-term deal, they\u2019d only have around $5MM in cap space left over after signing him with RFA winger\u00a0William Cuylle<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in need of a new deal as well.<\/p>\n

While Gavrikov\u2019s puck-moving ability may be a step back from Miller\u2019s ceiling, the veteran has been far more consistent over the past few years and offers greater defensive upside. That two-way presence \u2013 this past season was his second time hitting 30 points in his NHL career \u2013 combined with spectacular impacts and a willingness to get involved in the play physically would give\u00a0Adam Fox<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>the bona fide No. 2 defenseman and potential long-term partner he\u2019s missed over the last few years with\u00a0Ryan Lindgren<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s decline and subsequent trade.<\/p>\n

The Rangers would obviously end up paying a premium for Gavrikov\u2019s services coming off a stellar platform year, but they\u2019re in a position of need. There\u2019s nothing resembling even a fringe first-pairing lefty in the organization, particularly if Miller isn\u2019t re-upped, and Gavrikov has a highly desirable track record with his combination of heavy deployment and good two-way play over his six-year NHL career. Poor possession play has plagued the Rangers throughout the past few seasons, so much so that it may make more sense for new head coach Mike Sullivan<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to deploy Fox, who routinely boasts above-average possession impacts regardless of who his partner is, on a separate pairing from Gavrikov if he\u2019s brought in.<\/p>\n

Still, a long-term agreement with Gavrikov isn\u2019t something the Rangers should rush into. They\u2019ve had to make some undesirable cap dumps in the past few months because of similar moves. They already have two lengthy contracts on the books for defenders \u2013 Fox\u2019s rather desirable $9.5MM cap hit through 2029 isn\u2019t much of an issue, but\u00a0William Borgen<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s $4.1MM cap hit through 2030 could be a tricky one if he can\u2019t manage to hold onto a consistent top-four role on the right side with the younger, more dynamic Braden Schneider<\/a> <\/strong>breathing down his neck entering a contract year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If\u00a0Vladislav Gavrikov\u00a0reaches the open market next week, there will be a high level of mutual interest between him…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[2081,1302,293,62,67,132,68,7761],"class_list":{"0":"post-6241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-los-angeles-kings","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-vladislav-gavrikov"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114729030671310301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}