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Rangers give Jarret Stoll second chance for one year, $800K

Josh Cooper

The New York Rangers have signed troubled former Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll to a one-year,  $800,000 contract. 

In June, Stoll pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, one of “provoking commission of breach of peace” and another of trespass. Both occurred at the Wet Republic pool in Las Vegas last April. This followed his arrest for suspicion of cocaine and Ecstasy possession at the Wet Republic.

He was initially charged with felony possession of a controlled substance – which was cocaine.

His plea deal involved 32 hours of community service in 120 days.

Now that we’ve got those particulars out of the way, what can Stoll do for the Rangers? For one, it’s a low-risk move for not a lot of money. Stoll, 33, carries a lifetime face-off percentage of 55.4 percent. He had just 17 points in 73 games last season with L.A., but he’s a playoff-tested player with two Stanley Cups on his resume. The Rangers have had some issues with winning the Big One the last several years during their window of opportunity.

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Stoll’s shot attempts were at plus-34 on the Kings, though his shot attempts relative were at minus-5.7 percent, which meant Los Angeles had more shot attempts at the opposing net when Stoll wasn’t on the ice.

Then again, Stoll drew more defensive than offensive assignments for the Kings. He averaged 1:30 of penalty kill ice-time per-game, second-most amongst Kings forwards. Also, Los Angeles' top lines were full of puck possession monsters.

Regardless of the arrest, Stoll was probably not coming back to Los Angeles thanks to his age and the Kings' salary cap situation.

If it works out for both sides, the Rangers will have extra depth at center and Stoll will prove worthy of his second chance. If it doesn’t, the Rangers can send him to the American Hockey League, which is basically what they did with Ryan Malone last season after the troubled forward signed a one-year deal worth $700,000.

New York eventually placed him on unconditional waivers. According to General Fanager, the Rangers have just over 825,000 in salary cap space.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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