We won’t be seeing the guy on the left in that jersey anymore. May not see the one on the right either. (Photo: Melissa Andus)

For a day off, today was a busy day in Ranger world.

First, we said goodbye to Jeff Halpern as he was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens. I said he would be claimed by someone but expected him to go earlier than that. (Waiver claims go by reverse standings meaning the Panthers had first grab and the Canadiens were toward the bottom of the list.)

I hope I’m wrong about this but I think the Rangers will regret letting him go. He wasn’t anything spectacular but for a fourth line center who killed penalties, he was solid. Case in point – he was never scratched and would regularly be moved up in the lineup if Torts felt a spark was needed. Guess we’ll see. In the meantime, I actually hope we get no power plays next Saturday night as the Habs now have Prust and Halpern.

» Continue reading “Waivers, Recalls, Injuries + More”

You got lucky Rick. Real lucky. (Photo: Melissa Andus)

Today I expected to write a post regarding Rick Nash being fined or suspended for his hit on Tomas Kopecky last night. Honestly, while I still can’t figure out what Nash’s intention was with the hit, it’s one that needs to be taken out of the game so I figured this was an easy call to get a hearing. I wouldn’t begin to guess the discipline handed out because…well because it’s the NHL Department of Player Safety.

Then this news came in:

» Continue reading “Halpern Waived, Nash Safe, What The Heck Is Going On?”

This mans’ days with the Rangers are officially over. (Photo: CS Smith/flickr)

You know how we know the NHL season has official begun? The waiver wires are spitting out names by the dozen.

Yesterday, the Rangers placed Sean Collins, Michael Haley, Chad Kolarik, Kris Newbury, Logan Pyett, Brendon Segal, Mike Vernace, and Tommy Grant on waivers. Why, you might ask, did they put half of their AHL team on waivers? Because of a stupid little rule that said they had to.

All eight of those guys are actually on NHL contracts meaning at the start of the season, they need to be placed on waivers to be sent down to the AHL. Usually this happens in October and no one even notices. Unfortunately this year the season is starting in January meaning they technically need to be “sent” to the Whale in order to continue to play there after Friday. So basically this was a formality.

The good news is no one claimed them so the Whale roster will stay intact. The even better news is the new CBA abolished re-entry waivers which means any of these guys can still easily be called up at any time. (I’m not sure if they will have to go through waivers to be sent back down again, though.)

*UPDATE: It looks like one of those guys is leaving the Whale as according to the AHL transaction page, Brandon Segal has been recalled by the Rangers. No confirmation from either team but if he is indeed headed to NY, the recall is much deserved as he has been one of the best players for the Whale recently. (And before anyone worries what this means for the Rangers roster, they are shorthanded at forward to begin with. I wouldn’t read too much into it at the moment.)

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In other waiver news, Wade Redden was placed on waivers today in order to be bought out. After the Rangers stated that they planned to pay Redden to sit at home and the Canadiens decided to do the same thing with Scott Gomez, the NHL and NHLPA got together and worked out an agreement to allow teams to use one of their two compliance buyouts before the season begins. Originally those buyouts were only supposed to be used either this summer or next summer.

The new provision states that teams can only use one and the player it is to be used on has to be making more than $3 million a season as well as agree to the buyout. Honestly, I think the new edition to the rule should be called the “Fix Glen Sather Mistake” provision, especially since it’s only expected to be used on those two players.

To make a long story short, Redden will be bought out tomorrow after he clears waives and be allowed to sign with any team he wants. He will still get the remaining salary owed to him and the Rangers will be on the hook for his full cap for this season only. The cap isn’t an issue since the Rangers would’ve had to deal with that if he sat home so I’m glad he’s getting the chance to play.

And since I’m not sure if I’ve ever written it on here, here’s my take on Redden:

He never asked for any of this. Yes he signed the contract but if someone offered you that money, what would you do? The exact same thing he did. It didn’t work out here and for that I feel bad for him. It wasn’t that he was a horrible player. He just wasn’t a $6 million a year player. He has been amazing in Hartford the past two seasons so I really hope he gets another chance with another team and is able to end his career on a high note. I know I’ll be rooting for him.