New York Rangers extend Sammy Blais with one year, $1.525 million contract

The New York Rangers signed winger Sammy Blais to a one year contract extension with a $1.525 million AAV, making it official on Friday morning.

Blais was in the final season of a two year contract with a $1.5 million cap hit that he originally signed with the St. Louis Blues. Blais was a restricted free agent, but will be an unrestricted free agent when his new deal expires in 2023. The contract comes in at just under his qualifying offer.

The Rangers acquired Blais in 2021 along with a second round pick in 2022 for Pavel Buchnevich. Blais had four assists in 14 games this season before suffering a torn ACL in November 2021, and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

The Rangers are looking to continue their momentum after a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Final, but will be in tough with several free agents to deal with. Along with any of the trade deadline additions they may want to bring back in, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte, Frank Vatrano, and Justin Braun, they also will be looking to re-sign a few Rangers who’ve been around longer, like Ryan Strome, Kaapo Kakko, Julien Gauthier, and Alexandar Georgiev. They currently have just over $11 million in cap space with the $9.5 million extension to defenseman Adam Fox kicking in.