Rangers Re
The Rangers cleared one elephant from their room Friday, agreeing to terms with defenseman Dan Girardi on a six-year contract extension that keeps their solid defense corps intact.
The signing of Girardi, 29, who would have been an unrestricted free agent after the season, ended talk that General Manager Glen Sather would trade him by Wednesday's deadline.
'Dan has been a Ranger for his entire career, signing with us as an undrafted free agent and working his way to become a top defenseman in the N.H.L.,' Sather said in a statement. 'His dedication to this club, as a leader both on the ice and in the locker room, is invaluable to this team. We are happy to have been able to ensure that he will continue to wear the Blueshirt.'
But the captain Ryan Callahan, another pending free agent, remains unsigned, and rumors persist that Callahan will be traded if an agreement cannot be reached by Wednesday. Talks between Sather and Girardi's agent, Don Meehan, proceeded through the Olympic break. But Sather and Callahan's agent, Steve Bartlett, did not talk during the break.
Girardi's contract, worth $33 million with an average annual cap hit of $5.5 million per year, includes a full no-move clause the first three years, and a modified no-trade clause for the last three years.
Girardi, an eight-year veteran from Welland, Ontario, plays alongside Ryan McDonagh on the Rangers' top defense pair and has ranked among the N.H.L.'s top six in blocked shots in each of the last four seasons. Since the start of the 2009-10 season he has blocked 847 shots, tops in the N.H.L.
A solid, stay-at-home defender who takes few penalties, Girardi has 35 goals, 171 points and just 215 penalty minutes in 548 career games. This season he has 4 goals and 17 points. He leads the Rangers in hits (145) and blocked shots (121) and ranks second in average ice time (22:40).
In Thursday's 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rangers' first game after the end of the Olympic break, Girardi went plus-2 and blocked a game-high 5 shots. He said he paid no attention to the constant trade rumors that went along with his pending free agent status.
'Away from the rink you try to work things out, but once I come to the rink it doesn't come into my head,' Girardi said. 'In the game, that's the last thing on my mind.'
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