Rangers sign Del Zotto

The Rangers announced this afternoon they have signed their first-round pick from the 2008 draft, defenseman Michael Del Zotto, to a contract.

Despite the contract, Del Zotto will return to juniors next season if he does not make the Rangers in training camp.

The text from the Rangers press release is below.

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with defenseman Michael Del Zotto.

Del Zotto, 18, skated in 62 games with the Oshawa Generals and London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) this season, registering 13 goals and 50 assists for 63 points, along with 78 penalty minutes.  The two-time OHL All-Star finished the season ranked sixth among all OHL defensemen in scoring and assists, while his 50 assists tied for 11^th in the league overall.  He also ranked fifth in the league with 32 power play assists.  Del Zotto recorded the sixth longest assist streak in the OHL this season, registering an assist in seven straight contests from February 1 at Ottawa to February 16 at Guelph (nine assists).  In addition, he posted 14 multi-point games, including five, three-point efforts.  In the postseason with London, Del Zotto led the team with 16 assists and tied for fourth on the Knights with 19 points in 14 games.  His 16 assists ranked second among all OHL defensemen in the playoffs, while his 19 points finished third among league blueliners.

The 6-0, 195-pound defenseman has skated in 190 career OHL games with Oshawa and London, collecting 39 goals and 144 assists for 183 points, along with 238 penalty minutes.  Last season, Del Zotto tied for third among all OHL defensemen in scoring with 63 points and ranked fourth with a career-high, 16 goals.  He also tied for fifth in the league overall with five shorthanded goals.  The second overall pick in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection, Del Zotto was twice named OHL Defensemen of the Month – November 2006 and December 2007.
The native of Stouffville, Ontario was the Rangers’ first round choice, 20^th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.  The selection marked the third time in four years the Rangers have chosen a defenseman in the first round, having drafted Marc Staal with the 12^th overall pick in 2005 and Bobby Sanguinetti with the 21^st overall pick in 2006.

Comments

[LI Joe]

espn had a crawler on bottom of screen a few days ago re the cap. Daly, one of bettman's assts, was speculating that the cap mmight come down about $ 2.5 mm. have not seen anything further on that or any article on it. and the $ 2.5 mm is prob a prelude to a further drop in the cap the following yr.

so guys like del zotto on entry level caps will come in handy the next couple of yrs.

[Andrew Gross]

LI Joe,

That's in line with what Bettman told us (traveling New York media) in Florida earlier this year. Next season's cap would be plus/minus $2-3 million. Bettman did say so but the expectation all along is that the 2010-11 cap might possibly dip below $50 million.

[Mark]

Andrew or anyone out that familiar with entry level contract, what kind of money around did Del Zotto sign for? I know the Rangers never release terms, but what is the norm for a guy taking in the mid first round?

[LI Joe]

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=NYR

mark - i would think it would be in line with what sanguinetti and anisimov are getting - between $ 800 k and $ 900 k. might be hard to achieve bonuses in there too - they would hit the following yrs cap if they are achieved. there is a rookie salary cap other than the bonuses. the contract does not start until he leaves jrs which is 1 benefit in keeping him in jrs - so the last yr of the following 3 yrs would be lower before his restricted status would kick in.

i think this yr was different since for most of the yr the players had the right to terminate the cba. obviously they chose not do. but for this yr - meaning the past yr all rookie and other bonuses had to fit under the cap whether achieved or not. that is why if you look at tb and see stamkos his salary is shown as north of $ 3 mm. this coming yr that will not be the case. so del zotto s/b in line with what sanguinetti is shown as.

[LI Joe]

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeynightincanada/hotstove/

some interesting hockey talk - also have older versions here

[Mark]

LI JOE-thanks for the explanation on the contracts, and nice link on the trade rumor videos, hopefully ESPN will get back in the mix, just for their better HD picture.