Training camp is just days from starting and the New York Rangers aren’t wasting any time signing Marc Staal.  The Rangers announced Wednesday that they have officially signed leading defenseman Marc Staal to a five-year new contract.  The five-year deal is reportedly worth almost $20 million.

The 23-year-old restricted free agent is entering his fourth year in the NHL and was one of the four New York Rangers that participated in all 82 of the games last season.  He scored a total of four goals and recorded 19 assists for a total of 27 points – all of these being career highs for Staal. He also registered 44 penalty minutes with a rating of plus 11. Staal has played consecutively 202 games, which includes the playoffs since February 19, 2008 in Montreal.

Staal led the Rangers with the best average time on the ice of 23 minutes per game.  In addition, he reached the team season high of time on the ice at 30:45 and reached 30 minutes of ice-time twice during the last season with New York. In strength points, he ranked fourth on the team at 27 and tied for the third position for 97 blocked shots.  He ranked fourth with 7 road goals and fifth with 14 road points.  And with a whopping 178 hits, Staal tied for second on the Rangers and 12th overall in the NHL among defensemen.

He is one of the best, well actually the best, defenseman that the Rangers have on their roster.  This upcoming NHL season without him would have been a death wish.  Training camp opens Friday and now that Staal has signed his new contract with the New York Rangers, he will be in attendance.

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