"“Everything happens for a reason…I’m not sure what that reason is, yet, but it always seems to work out in the end.“It is what it is. I’ll try and make the best of it.”"
That was a quote on nypost.com from Ryan Malone on Monday after he was waived by the Rangers. Later that same day, he was seen on the ice, practicing with fellow teammates on the power play unit.
Weird? I’d say so.
After some researching on the Internet (thank you, Wilkipedia), I found useful information regarding waivers in the NHL. As defined by the website:
“Waivers is a National Hockey League (NHL) labor management procedure by which an NHL team makes a professional ice hockey player’s contract and rights available to all other NHL teams. The term “waivers” refers to a concept wherein other NHL teams ‘waive’ any claim to a player designated for assignment in the AHL or designated for release. The process is typically referred to as ‘being placed on waivers.’
“In the NHL, each player signs what is, or is a variation of, a standard NHL player’s contract. The contract specifies that the team has exclusive rights to the player playing in the NHL. Once an NHL player has played in a certain number of games or a set number of seasons has passed since the signing of his first NHL contract…that player must be offered to all of the other NHL teams before he can be assigned to a minor league affiliate. In the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) assignment waivers applies only to loans from an NHL club to its American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
“After a player has been designated for assignment, the other 29 NHL teams can put in a claim or waive their claim for that player. The claims process starts at noon Eastern Standard time and ends 24 hours later. If only one team makes a claim for the player, then he will be transferred to the claiming team. If more than one team makes a claim, then the player will be transferred to the team having the lowest percentage of possible points in league standings at the time of the request for waivers. If waivers are requested outside of the playing season, or before November 1, then the player shall be transferred to the team with the lowest points in the preceding season. If no team places a claim the player can be sent to a minor league affiliate.
When a player clears waivers and is sent down and then is called up again, he does not have to clear waivers to be sent down again unless he has played ten games or has been “up” for 30 days.”
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In the case of Malone, he was eligible to participate with the team as he awaited to be claimed by another team. Since this did not happen, he was eligible to stay with the Rangers and participate in Monday’s game, which he did as he took the place of Mats Zuccarello in the lineup.
Confusing? Yes, if you are not up on contracts and agreements. I’ll be the first to admit it, I had no idea.
But why Malone?
Though he has no points to show in his six games with the team, he has played well, in my opinion. His role on the fourth line seem to suit him. He provided size and strength, while providing an offensive threat. Heck, he was on the power play. That must mean something, right? Of course, a player cannot get into a flow of things, if you only play a handful of games. It looked as though he would be in the Rangers lineup, either on a permanent role or in a rotational basis with another player. But I am not Alain Vigneault and don’t get to see Malone on an everyday basis. This situation reminds of his comments regarding Malone’s place on the Rangers’ lineup:
"“I liked his training camp but I am not quite sure, and I was very honest with him, where he fits in with our team picture right now.”-Alain Vigneault, SNYRangersblog.com, October 2014"
Guess like everything else, we will have to wait and see how this unfolds.