- Rangers land Eeli Tolvanen on a one-year deal worth $1.5 million
- The Finnish winger scored a career-high 23 goals for Seattle in 2024-25
- Read below for what New York is actually buying at that price
Eeli Tolvanen is off the free agent board, and the Rangers got him at a discount.
New York is signing the 27-year-old winger to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million, per PuckPedia.
That number is the story. Tolvanen just finished a two-year deal that paid him $3.475 million a season in Seattle, so he is taking a cut of more than half to sign in New York.
He shows up with 92 goals and 190 points in 423 career NHL games, split between Nashville and Seattle.
Nashville drafted him 30th overall in 2017 and never got much out of him. Seattle claimed him off waivers in December 2022, and he took off almost right away with 16 goals in 48 games the rest of that season.
His first spring with the Kraken produced the first playoff goal in franchise history, against Colorado in a series Seattle won in seven.
The peak came in 2024-25, when he put up a career-high 23 goals. Watch every one of them:
Last season went the other way. Tolvanen scored 12 goals and 36 points in 78 games on an 8.5 shooting percentage, well under his usual clip, and he sat on the market deep into August waiting for a call.
Whichever version turns up, the Rangers need goals. They finished with the 10th-fewest in the NHL last season, shipped Artemi Panarin to the Kings in February and moved Vincent Trocheck to Utah over the summer.
Chris Drury has spent the offseason patching that hole. Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand are already in the room, and Alexis Lafreniere is projected on the top line alongside Dorofeyev.
One year at $1.5 million means New York is barely exposed if the 12-goal season was the real Tolvanen. If the 23-goal season was, Drury just found a bargain.
