Rangers ink defenseman to two-year extension

The New York Rangers have signed defenseman Brandon Scanlin to a two-year, one-way contract extension. 

The new deal carries Scanlin through the 2025-26 season and pays a $775K base salary in both the NHL and AHL, per CapFriendly. Scanlin has spent all season in the AHL, playing in 43 games and scoring 14 points, split evenly, with the Hartford Wolf Pack.

This season marks Scanlin’s third professional season, making his debut with the Wolf Pack at the end of the 2021-22 season. Scanlin joined the team as an undrafted free agent after his junior season with the University of Nebraska Omaha ended. 

He’s since totaled 119 career AHL games and 30 points. It’s been a step down in scoring from his collegiate days when he managed 62 points across 98 games in Omaha.

New York has been clear about rewarding its young minor leaguers this season, recently holding Matt Rempe on the NHL roster during a break in the schedule, earning him a brief taste of an NHL paycheck.

Now, the 24-year-old Scanlin earns a major pay raise and potentially more NHL consideration, signing a one-way deal. 

The Rangers currently have $5.178M in cap space, getting a boost from Filip Chytil’s move to long-term injured reserve. The 24-year-old centerman is out for the season with an upper-body injury that required him to return to his home country of Czechia.