The Rangers completed a tidy bit of business over the weekend, coming to team-friendly terms with restricted free agent Braden Schneider on a two-year, $4.4 million contract.

The bridge deal comes as no surprise and reflects an organizational trend in recent years. New York typically prefers to go short term on second contracts for its young players in order to maintain future salary-cap flexibility. It could come back to bite them in two years if Schneider plays his way into a strong leverage position, but for now, it keeps an important defensive cog around for a very manageable average annual value of $2.2 million. That's especially significant considering the cap crunch they're bracing for next summer, when Alexis Lafrenière, K'Andre Miller and Igor Shesterkin will each be due for expensive third contracts.

Schneider's new deal, coupled with the re-signing of likely seventh defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to a one-year, $775,000 contract, leaves the Rangers with approximately $5.9 million in remaining cap space. That's with only one roster spot left to fill, which presumably will be occupied by their lone remaining RFA, defenseman Ryan Lindgren.

As reported last week by lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, the main holdup with Lindgren appears to be term. The expectation is that his AAV will land somewhere around his $3.6 million qualifying offer, perhaps going as high as $4 million, but the Rangers' preference is not to go overboard on the length of the contract.

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Once they find middle ground and conclude those negotiations, they should be left with about $2 million in available cap space, give or take a couple-hundred thousand. And if they maintain that amount throughout the season, the loose accrual estimate by the time the trade deadline rolls around would total around $9 million. That would give team president Chris Drury the financial maneuverability to add aggressively, which surely factored into what has been a fairly uneventful summer.

In the meantime, it appears the Rangers will move forward with a very similar-looking D corps. Veteran Erik Gustafsson departed for Detroit via free agency, but pretty much everyone else looks to be returning.

Adam Fox, Schneider and Jacob Trouba remain as the top-three right-handed defensemen, with Lindgren, Miller and Zac Jones opposite them on the left. Ruhwedel, Ben Harpur, Connor Mackey and newly signed Casey Fitzgerald will serve as the immediate depth behind them, followed by prospects Victor Mancini, Matthew Robertson and Brandon Scanlin. (Robertson agreed to a one-year deal Monday that's worth the league minimum $775,000 in the long-shot scenario he makes the NHL roster.)

Schneider's growing role

Attempts to shake things up by trading Trouba hit some very public roadblocks, increasing the likelihood that the captain will be with the team once training camp opens in mid-September. But all signs are pointing toward the 30-year-old being used in a diminished bottom-pair role, with Schneider poised to leapfrog him on the depth chart.

Those wheels were already in motion at the end of last season, when the 22-year-old bumped up to the second pair following Trouba's broken ankle in early March and looked ready for the challenge. Even after Trouba's return, head coach Peter Laviolette elected to use Schneider ahead of him for 11 of the Rangers' 16 playoff games.

"My role grew," Schneider said on June 4 at breakup day. "With this staff we’ve got, I felt like I've learned a ton. I feel like I've gained a ton of confidence. I was given a great opportunity. I’ve just got to make sure I keep building on my game. I think there's levels that I want to find still. There’s still a lot of growth and a lot of learning to go."

Schneider's average time on ice jumped from 15:53 during the regular season to 17:32 in the playoffs, where his 1.84 goals against per 60 minutes averaged ranked second among the team's defensemen to Adam Fox, according to Natural Stat Trick.

His steady defensive play earned Laviolette's trust, with the 6-foot-3, 211-pounder bringing the size, strength and protect-the-house mindset so many coaches covet. That led to added responsibility, especially in light of Trouba's struggles, but he's far from a finished product. Solidifying a top-four spot will require squeezing more out of the 2020 first-round pick, who's yet to eclipse 19 points or a 48.56% xGF in any of his first three seasons.

The Rangers' D corps as a whole struggled to advance pucks as the competition got stiffer, with Schneider's 42.67% playoff xGF and lowly point total (two assists in 16 games) evidence of how difficult it was to get out of their own zone. It doesn't all fall on him, of course, but it's a clear area where improvement is needed if the Blueshirts are going to take the final championship step.

They appear to be better off when Schneider is paired with Miller, as opposed to the dwindling multi-year partnership between Miller and Trouba. Schneider's confidence boomed after the switch was made while Miller became noticeably more assertive, but it's worth noting the numbers reflect closer results than the eye test suggested. The Miller-Trouba pair actually generated a better xGF (49.2%) during the regular season than Miller and Schneider (47.36%), while the latter duo had a 45.23% vs. 43.52% edge in the playoffs. The actual-goal totals were similar, as well, with Miller and Trouba outscored by a combined 46-40 margin (46.51%) between the regular season and playoffs while Miller and Schneider were outscored 21-19 (47.5%).

That should temper expectations, but the late-season trends favor staying the course and betting on Schneider's continued growth. He responded relatively well when pushed out of his comfort zone, which the Rangers hope will propel him to bigger things in 2024-25.

They're banking on it, even if they didn't have to break the bank to retain him.

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: What Braden Schneider's new contract means for Rangers' D corps