Eeli Tolvanen is about to find a home, and it's the New York Rangers stepping up to sign him.
The Finnish winger is finalizing a one-year contract worth $1.5 million, according to a report Tuesday from PuckPedia.
It's been a long summer for Tolvanen. He was one of the most talked about names still sitting on the open market.
Nobody wants to be the last kid picked, and for a former first-round pick, that's exactly what this felt like.
Tolvanen put up 36 points in 78 games with the Seattle Kraken last season. Respectable, not electric.
But his defensive game scared teams off. Enough clubs passed that he had no choice but to take a real pay cut just to keep playing.
He made $3.475 million each of the last two seasons. This new deal is less than half that.
Rangers take low-risk gamble that could backfire badly
Over nine NHL seasons, Tolvanen has 190 points in 423 games. He's also sitting at a minus-237 rating for his career, a number that tells its own story.
That kind of shortfall doesn't happen by accident. It follows a player from locker room to locker room until somebody finally says no thanks.
The Rangers, though, need scoring depth wherever they can find it. New York finished last season 34-39-9, good for 77 points and 29th overall in the league.
Home ice wasn't kind to them either, a 14-20-7 record that would make any coach uneasy behind the bench.
Mike Sullivan enters this situation needing wingers who can still finish. Whether Tolvanen fits that top six or gets buried in a bottom-six role remains to be seen.
Is this a low-risk flier or just another reclamation project doomed to repeat itself? Depends who you ask in that Rangers front office.
One thing is clear. Chris Drury didn't add a difference maker here, he added a bet.
If the pieces click on special teams, this signing looks smart by December. If not, it's one more name buried on a fourth line nobody talks about come spring.
Is signing Eeli Tolvanen to a bet the Rangers front office should be making right now?
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