Chris Mueller Will Not Make Rangers Starting Roster
Chris Mueller surprised a lot of people in the preseason match against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden. He notched two points, a goal and an assist, and maintained pressure on the Flyers defense throughout the game. However, many New York Rangers fans were surprised not because of his impressive game, but because we haven’t heard much about Mueller before. Unfortunately, that could be all we hear from him once Monday’s cuts are announced But who exactly is Chris Mueller and where did he come from?
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Turns out Mueller is from West Seneca, New York, but has played hockey in the Western Conference for a while, flying under the radar in the East. The Nashville Predators signed the 28-year-old in 2010 and was split between the Predators and the AHL Milwaukee Admirals. The forward racked up 36 points in 55 games played in his last season with the Admirals. He also tallied 5 points in 18 games in the NHL that same season. Last year, he signed with the Dallas Stars where he went scoreless in 9 NHL games, but managed a whopping 57 points over 60 AHL games with the Texas Stars. The Rangers acquired Mueller as a free agent this year on July first and he has made a good impression so far. He may not be the tallest at 5”11’, but weighing in at 210 pounds helps Mueller with his remarkable two-way game as we saw at MSG. Is that enough of an impression for Alain Vigneault to keep him in the Rangers starting roster?
As we all know, Vigneault sent down nine players to the Hartford Wolfpack this week. The roster is going to be cut down even further to 22 or 23 players, while keeping injured Derek Stepan, by Monday. There are 21 forwards still apart of training camp, including Mueller. If every forward left from last season makes the starting roster for 2014-15, there’s only room for five new guys. Ryan Haggerty and Jesper Fast are almost certain to make Monday’s cuts. They’re promising prospects who play right-wing and shoot right: something AV wants and the Rangers need to balance the team.
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Mueller also shoots right and has experience at both center and right-wing. However, many believe there isn’t enough room for him on the roster since bigger names like Anthony Duclair,
, Kevin Hayes, and
are also up in the air.
Mueller’s performance over the final two preseason games can either make or break him. On the other hand, if the bigger names play as well as they have done or better Mueller will most likely be pushed out of a spot on the roster. The only way I see Mueller making the team is if the Rangers continue their injury spree (and if by some miraculous chance Mueller is reading this, don’t you get any funny ideas).
Mueller could be gone as soon as he appeared, but until Monday we won’t know for sure. What do you think? Could we be hearing more from him after the next round of cuts? Comment below.