Rangers officially buy out defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk’s contract

Kevin-Shattenkirk

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno chases the puck against New York Rangers defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk. (Paul Vernon/AP)

NEW YORK — The Rangers have bought out the final two seasons of defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk‘s contract.

Shattenkirk played only two seasons after signing a $26.6 million, four-year contract with New York. He had just seven goals and 44 assists in 119 games.

When Shattenkirk, a New Yorker, signed July 1, 2017, he took a shorter deal than other teams were offering to live out his childhood dream of playing for the Rangers. He is again a free agent but now has less value at age 30.

Rangers President John Davidson on Thursday called it a very difficult decision. The team will save more than $5 million against the salary cap this season and over $560,000 next season before taking a $1.43 million hit in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.