Fraser Minten’s new deal in Boston may have done more than lock in a young center for the long haul. It may also have handed the Rangers a template for what comes next with Will Cuylle.
On September 8, the Bruins signed Minten to a seven-year contract worth $7.2 million AAV after a season in which he played every regular-season game and scored 17 goals as a 22-year-old. Boston clearly liked what it saw and chose not to play the usual bridge-contract game, avoiding a shorter deal that could have only delayed a much bigger payday if Minten kept climbing.
That approach is worth watching in New York. The Rangers have often preferred shorter-term agreements for young players, pushing the bigger decision further down the road until they either have to pay up or move on. If they want Cuylle in the picture for years to come, this is the kind of situation they need to get ahead of.
Cuylle has been one of the few steady positives through the Rangers’ last two rough seasons. He’s two years older than Minten, and after a 20-goal campaign in 2024-25, he posted nearly the same numbers in a season when plenty around him took a step back.
That doesn’t read like a red flag. It looks more like a player who can keep producing even when the team around him is sputtering.
The durability is there, too. Cuylle has missed just one regular-season game over the last three full seasons, and like Minten, he was a second-round pick who has started to look like a real top-six option. Both have been averaging a little more than 15 minutes a night in their early 20s, which is no small thing in today’s NHL.
For the Rangers, the question isn’t really whether Cuylle is worth a long-term commitment. It’s when they decide to make it a priority.
With a roster that includes a number of players in their early 30s and a prospect pool that still isn’t near the top tier of the league, the organization needs to lean harder on homegrown talent. Cuylle fits that idea better than almost anyone.
There’s also not much appetite from the fanbase to part with him unless the return is a true star. His effort has never been in question, and he has shown he can adjust his game when the situation demands it. Getting an extension done before he reaches restricted free agency, or worse, arbitration, would be the cleanest outcome for both sides.
That doesn’t mean the Rangers can just hand him a new deal tomorrow. They have less than $1 million in cap space for this season, even if some players could be on the move by the deadline.
Any Cuylle extension would hit next year’s books, but the team would still need to plan carefully around it. Urho Vaakanainen looks like the odd man out on defense at the moment, Braden Schneider was not extended long term and could become a trade chip closer to the deadline, and Oliver Bjorkstrand and Joe Veleno arrived on one-year deals that combine for $5.7 million.
The timing matters almost as much as the number on the contract. The Rangers would be smart to keep salary arbitration out of the picture, and they also can’t gut the roster before the deadline if they’re still in playoff contention just to clear room for a player who is already under contract. The best window would be after the season but before the RFA process gets rolling.
The broader point is simple: teams don’t stay frozen in place forever, and the NHL always forces hard decisions. Over the next few months, the Rangers will learn a lot about where they stand, and Cuylle will have a chance to strengthen his case as part of their future. If he gets into the 25-goal range and lands around 50 points, a contract in the Minten neighborhood would make sense for everyone involved.
New York is better when Cuylle is playing to his level. A long-term extension would only reinforce that belief and give him a stronger sense of where he stands in the organization. When that conversation comes, the Rangers should look around the league and follow the lead of teams that know how to handle promising young players honestly and fairly.
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For several of the rookies, this will be their first game action in the organization, including a big chunk of this years draft class. Jay Leach, hired recently to coach Hartford, is also making his organizational debut while handling rookie camp practices and games, which gives the Rangers another fresh eye on a group trying to make a first impression. The results in September do not settle anything, but they can shape the conversation fast, especially for prospects who know they are already on the clock. [Read more 🡒]