Ryan Spooner inks a two year deal with the New York Rangers

The Rangers locked up their final free agent by signing Ryan Spooner to a two-year deal worth $4 million per season, but is he really worth that money?

The New York Rangers have agreed to a two-year contract with restricted free agent forward Ryan Spooner, while also avoiding going to arbitration with the 26-year-old center.

According to Elliotte Friedman, the two-year deal will be worth exactly $4 million per season. Spooner’s previous contract was a one-year contract worth $2,825,000, so this is pretty sizable raise him.

The deal seems expensive at first glance, but a one-year contract would’ve made Spooner an unrestricted free agent after next season, so New York likely paid up a bit more for security on that second year. There’s always more that goes into a contract than just points.

Spooner was acquired by the Rangers at the trade deadline in February as a part of the deal that saw Rick Nash get sent to the Boston Bruins.

Last season, Spooner played in 59 games, 39 with Boston and 20 with New York, and recorded 13 goals and 41 points. Spooner suffered through numerous injuries early in the season with the Bruins, but found a groove with the Rangers when he recorded 16 points in the final 20 games of the season.

With the signing of Spooner, the Rangers now have all of their players currently under contract for the next season. Next season will bring forth another busy offseason when 10 more contracts expire, including Mats Zuccarello and Pavel Buchnevich.

There were talks that Spooner would be dealt this offseason for assets in the Rangers continued attempts to rebuild the team, but it appears that they feel he will be beneficial to the team under new head coach David Quinn. At 26, he will soon be entering his athletic prime, and will likely improve with an injury-free season.

With all deadline acquisitions signed for the next two years, perhaps general manager Jeff Gorton wants to see what he has with this team under Gorton before deciding what players to trade and which ones to keep. For now though, the Rangers summer looks to be over. They currently have a 22-man roster and a remaining cap space of $5,676,431 via CapFriendly.com.