Sign in Subscribe
New York Rangers News

Rangers Sign Brandon Pirri

New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton has made another clever depth signing today. The Rangers have agreed to terms with free agent Brandon Pirri on a one-year, $1.1 million deal.

Pirri scored 14 goals last season in 63 games split between the Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers. In the 2014-15 season he scored 22 goals (and 2 assists) in just 49 games in his second year with the Panthers.

In a recent article for Today’s Slap Shot Sonny Sachdeva outlined why the Vancouver Canucks should consider grabbing Pirri to add depth to their offense.

Regardless, Pirri evened out the following year, proving to be  somewhat of a middling offensive option. He can provide some decent  depth scoring, but he isn’t necessarily a lock to hit the 20-goal mark  again.

It’s worth noting that he did bounce around quite a bit last season,  which could very well have affected his production. After playing almost  exclusively with Hayes and Trochek in 2014-15 (combining for 183.8  minutes together at even strength), Pirri saw his 2015-16 ice-time  divided up as he rotated with six different forwards throughout the year  (spending no more than 73 minutes with any of them, per Corsica).

So don’t pencil Pirri in for 20 goals, but do expect him to be add some quality depth to a bottom-six forward group that now has more competitors than I care to list. Where he fits in is currently a mystery, but there’s no doubt about him being a solid hockey player.

Getting Pirri for $1.1 million could end up being a huge steal for the Blueshirts. He’s 25 years old and has 80 points in 166 NHL games. He has experience playing both center and wing and he is hungry to prove himself.

Will the Pirri signing be the last move Gorton makes before training camp? The Rangers could still use some help on their blue line and an argument can now easily be made that they have some expendable forwards to make a deal happen.

So, time for some updated projected lines?

Read next