Blueshirts only have so much cap space

So the first offseason contract matter is in the books with pending restricted free agent Ryan Lindgren signing a three-year, $9 million extension on Monday for a cap hit of $3 million per season that is equitable on both sides of the equation.

There are now six pending restricted free agents to deal with over a summer in which the Rangers and general manager Chris Drury have space to maneuver, but not to be foolish considering the number of entry-level contracts that will expire over the next few seasons, starting with Adam Fox (and Kaapo Kakko) a year from now.

Let’s start with a 13-man shadow lineup of players under contract for next season that includes goaltender Alexandar Georgiev ($2.45M); defensemen Jacob Trouba ($8.0M), Lindgren ($3M), Fox ($925,000) and K’Andre Miller ($925,000); and forwards Artemi Panarin ($11.642M), Chris Kreider ($6.5M), Mika Zibanejad ($5.35M), Ryan Strome ($4.5M), Alexis Lafreniere ($925,000), Kakko ($925,000), Vitali Kravtsov ($925,000) and Morgan Barron ($925,000).

That amounts to a commitment of $46,992,857. Signing the remaining six pending restricted free agents — Pavel Buchnevich, Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek and Julien Gauthier — will likely account for somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 million-$18 million, with Buchnevich and Shesterkin amounting to a combined $10 million-$11 million.

The team will carry $4,427,777 of buyout charges relating to Henrik Lundqvist, Kevin Shattenkirk, Dan Girardi and Tony DeAngelo. And there will be an entry-level bonus penalty, too, though not as steep as this season’s.

Clubs are allowed a $6,112,500 bonus cushion. The Rangers will exceed that by carrying Lafreniere ($2.85M), Kakko ($2.65M), Fox ($850,000), Barron ($850,000), Kravtsov ($850,000) and Miller ($300,000), That amounts to $8.35 million, or a cap penalty charge of $2,237,500. Those numbers will increase if Nils Lundkvist’s entry-level deal includes performance bonuses.

So, the commitments, the expected outlay to re-sign restricted free agents, buyout charges and the bonus penalty adds up to around $71.65 million, leaving just under $10 million to spend under the $81.5 million flat cap.