Rangers, Ryan Lindgren agree to 1-year, $4.5 million contract, avoid arbitration

The New York Rangers and Ryan Lindgren have agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract for the 2024-25 season. The deal was first reported by NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman .

By reaching an agreement now, Lindgren and the Rangers avoided a salary arbitration hearing that was scheduled for Friday.

The Rangers now have $623,476 in projected salary cap space for the 2024-25 season, per Puck Pedia , with each of their players under contract. Though Puck Pedia has the Rangers carrying the maximum 23 players next season, there’s a better chance they’ll have 22 on the roster, one extra forward and one extra defenseman, to save money against the cap.

The one-year contract means that Lindgren could become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this coming season. There was some belief that the 26-year-old defenseman might receive a multi-year contract from the Rangers, but that is not the case.

So, the Rangers paid well above Lindgren’s qualifying offer of $3.6 million this coming season to get him to agree to a one-year deal. Had the sides worked out a multi-year agreement, the AAV likely would have been less.

But the Rangers face a major financial crunch next offseason, needing to re-sign goalie Igor Shesterkin, who’ll be an unrestricted free agent, and forward Alexis Lafreniere and defenseman K’Andre Miller, who will be RFAs with arbitration rights.

Shesterkin’s contract is going to be massive, possibly the richest for a goalie in NHL history, exceeding $11 million per year. And the Lafreniere and Miller deals will not be cheap either. Considering their concerns about Lindgren remaining healthy over the course of a long-term contract, and the heavy lifting general manager Chris Drury faces with others next summer, it’s easy to see why the Rangers are content with a one-year deal here.

Related: Why Rangers salary cap situation is so precarious in 2025-26

Rangers re-up for one season with defenseman Ryan Lindgren

Lindgren has been a regular on the Rangers blue line since 2019 and is the long-time defense partner of Adam Fox, who won the Norris Trophy in 2020-21. They’ve known each other since each was a teenager in the United States National Team Development Program and are a perfect fit. Lindgren is the stay-at-home physical defenseman and Fox has recorded 70+ points in each of the past three seasons.

Despite the Rangers success in winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24, Lindgren struggled with a 45.09 percent xGF, the worst of his NHL career per Natural Stattrick . In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it dropped to 34.82 percent. Lindgren did reveal that he sustained fractured ribs in the decisive Game 6 of their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, indicating he was not at full strength for the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers, when the Rangers were eliminated in six games.

Lindgren is popular with his teammates, coaches and the fans for his hard-nosed style and ability to play through painful injuries. Simply, he’s a warrior through and through, though that has taken its toll on his body over the years. Lindgren even got dinged up recently in a summer league game back home in Minnesota.

He was the 2022-23 winner of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, voted by fans, and the Players Player Award, voted by his teammates, the same season.

With Lindgren in the fold, the Rangers top-6 on defense is set with Fox, Lindgren, Miller, Braden Schneider, Jacob Trouba and Zac Jones. Chad Ruhwedel likely will be the seventh defenseman.

Like Lindgren, Schneider was also a restricted free agent this summer. Coming off his entry-level contract and without arbitration rights, Schneider signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract two weeks ago. The Rangers also re-signed forward Kaapo Kakko to a one-year, $2.4 million contract to take care of all their RFAs.

Over 333 regular-season games, Lindgren has 80 points (10 goals, 70 assists), never more than 18 in any one season. He’s also a plus-99 in his career, including plus-22 this past season, when he averaged 19:21 in ice time.

Lindgren has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) and is plus-11 in 43 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He had three assists in 16 postseason games this past spring.

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