Rangers Make Small Moves as Season Approaches
By Mike Vecchio
With the regular season approaching fast, and with the Rangers over the max contract amount, Glen Sather needed to make something happen. Today, he did just that, as he made a few minor roster moves that should make the Rangers opening night roster even more clear. Here’s a recap of what happened today in Rangerstown:
Derek Stepan Put on Long Term Injured Reserve
This is, to say the least, bad. Stepan is clearly the Rangers’ best center man, and it’s a huge blow to see him go down early. This really exposes the lack of strength the Rangers have down the middle. Now, Martin St. Louis will have to center the first line, and you can tell that he is not too comfortable there. Yes, he does seem to get better as games go on, but he should be at his regular position on the wing. This also means that the other centers will have to step up to try to fill the hole with him out. This won’t be very easy, as Derick Brassard, J.T. Miller and Dominic Moore are all skilled players, but they don’t have the first line potential of Stepan. There is a bit of good news, as the Rangers will be able to keep 14 forwards to start the season, which head coach Alain Vigneault prefers. Stepan needs to miss a minimum of ten games before he can be taken off of IR, which means the Rangers need some one to step up and take over (Rick Nash, I’m looking at you).
Chris Mueller and Eight Others Assigned to Hartford
While Anthony Duclair and Kevin Hayes stayed up with the Rangers, nine players were sent back down to Hartford. The list includes players like Ryan Haggerty, Marek Hrivik, Mike Kostka, and Cedric Desjardins. These are the final roster cuts made by Alain Vigneault, as he gets his team ready for opening night on Thursday. Mueller did have a good preseason, and if Hayes was cut, he may have had a good chance to make the team as the third line center. Otherwise, none of the other players that were cut had an overwhelming chance to make the team, besides maybe Haggerty. He showed good speed and skill during the preseason and certainly wanted to the make the last cut. Still, these players can be called up during the course of the season, so it will be interesting to see when and who gets the call.
Trade: Andrew Yogan and Steve Kampfer to Florida for Joey Crabb
Watch out everyone. Anthony Duclair is here to stay. Well, at least for the time being.
By trading both Yogan and Kampfer and only getting back one player, that frees up a spot for Duclair to slide into. All three are minor league players, so it shouldn’t have too much of an effect on the opening night roster. However, once Duclair surpasses 10 games, the first year on is entry-level contract starts, which means they need to keep him. If he doesn’t, they can send him back down to the QMJHL for one more year. However, with the amount of skill he showed during the preseason, most fans think that he has a right to stay. Don’t be too quick to assume things people. Yes, he is very good, and yes he has shown he can score. If he meets his expectations, then the staff will have no problem keeping him. But, if he slips to the point where he is unproductive, then they won’t have a problem with sending him back down. So, Duclair needs to work even harder to show that scoring touch, because the real work starts now. If he doesn’t stay on top of things, his stint in the NHL this year will be short.