Ryan Lindgren was on the road to an arbitration hearing, but that will no longer be necessary after the bruising defenseman signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract extension with the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old was a pending restricted free agent, but can now focus on helping the Rangers in their quest for a first Stanley Cup championship since 1994.
“Real happy to get it done before [arbitration],” Lindgren said on Wednesday at the 4-on-4 ‘Da Beauty' summer league in Minnesota, per NHL.com's Jessi Pierce. “I love being in New York, so I’m really excited to get back there. It’s a great city, it’s a great team, so I’m really excited for next year.”
The top pairing D-man chipped in three goals and 17 points over 76 regular-season contests in 2023-24, adding another three assists in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He spent nearly the entire year playing with superstar Adam Fox, and was again effective in a shutdown role.
“I just try not to think about it as much you can,” he said in regards to again being a free agent at the end of next season, per Pierce. “Just go out there, play and have fun. If the team is successful, then you’re going to be successful. That’s all that really matters. But I want to be in New York. That’s all I’ve known for the past six years now. I love being there. I want to be there as long as I can.”
Ryan Lindgren hoping to win a Stanley Cup in New York
Two years after advancing to the Eastern Conference Final and losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, the Rangers again advanced to the Final Four in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But this time it was the Florida Panthers who eliminated New York in the same number of games, despite the Rangers leading the series 2-1. The Panthers went on to hoist Lord Stanley a few weeks later — and Lindgren is hoping to have similar success next postseason.
“It seems like we’re right there. The Eastern Conference Final last year we came up short, we lost to a really good Florida team, but we were right there with them,” said the blue liner.
“You just realize how hard it is. It’s a grind to get to that point. We had a real good regular season but that doesn’t mean much when you go into the playoffs. But we got a real good team. We added some real good players and I know guys were hungry going into the offseason, so real excited to get back at it.”
The Rangers added Reilly Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins and signed depth forward Sam Carrick on July 1, but watched as Alex Wennberg, Barclay Goodrow, Jack Roslovic and Erik Gustafsson moved on.
Still, there is a lot of belief in New York that the club can again make a deep run in 2025 with a superstar core. Lindgren is a key supporting piece and should be a huge part of that effort in 2024-25.
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