RANGERS INK DAWES FOR 587G
By LARRY BROOKS
Posted: 2:40 am
July 17, 2008
A restricted free agent without salary arbitration rights, Nigel Dawes had one way and one way only to cash in this summer, and that was by attracting an offer sheet. He didn't get one.
Instead, the 23-year-old left wing who scored 14 goals in 61 games, yesterday agreed to a one-year deal worth $587,500 - his qualifying offer was for $522,500 - that will bring him to salary arbitration eligibility next summer.
The signing of Dawes came one day after Dan Fritsche, who was acquired from Columbus in the Nikolai Zherdev-Fedor Tyutin trade, signed a one-year deal worth $875,000 rather than go forward with arbitration. That may not represent much money as applied in a vacuum against a $56.7M salary cap, but is a great deal of money for a fourth-line candidate on a team that's left itself without any safety net except the man in front of the net, itself, who would be Henrik Lundqvist.
With $11.5M committed to first-pair defensemen Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden, and another $4.05M going to third-pair D Paul Mara and Dimitri Kalinin, the Rangers have approximately $45.6M tied up in two goaltenders, six defensemen, and a quartet of forwards in Zherdev, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Markus Naslund. This leaves about $11M with which to construct the rest of the '08-09 roster.
And what with people like Pat Rissmiller and Aaron Voros in at $1M per and Fred Sjostrom sitting with a qualifier of over $800,000 - management is trying to sign him to a two-year contract in the neighborhood of $650,000 per - the Rangers seem to have no room for Brendan Shanahan, regardless of what Glen Sather repeatedly has said about the winger remaining in the equation.
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Having been bypassed in favor of Wrigley Field for the Jan. 1, 2009 outdoor game, the new Yankee Stadium is the leading contender to become the site of the 2010 Winter Classic.
