Rangers latest: Callahan retires, Huska to camp, NHL player movements and the WJC

A former New York Rangers captain retires and other news

With training camp just around the corner, here’s the latest on the New York Rangers and the NHL.   One of the original “Black and Blueshirts” has officially retired and some interesting personnel moves within the new East Division are the top stories.

Good-bye Cally

Former Ranger captain Ryan Callahan announced his retirement after sitting out a season with a back injury.  While this wasn’t unexpected, it’s sad to see.  Callahan will be 36 in March.

In honor of his retirement, the NHL tweeted out this amazing sequence that was the essence of Ryan Callahan.

While Callahan ended his career as an Ottawa Senator (for cap purposes) and he played his last five years in Tampa, he will always be a New York Ranger.   In 450 games he scored 132 goals (34th all time) and added 122 assists. He blocked 421 shots and threw 1,502 hits. The 421 blocks are the sixth most in franchise history and his 1,502 hits ranks second overall (since the NHL started recording those stats in 1997).

It’s fitting that in his official retirement announcement, he thanks the Rangers first.

Some Rangers fans will never forgive Glen Sather for trading Callahan to Tamp for Martin St. Louis in 2014.  Though it led to a run to the Stanley Cup Finals, it was a blow to the Blueshirt faithful.

Huska headed west

Goalie Adam Huska is headed to North America after playing for HKM Zvolen in Slovakia. In this Instagram post by the team, they sent Huska,23,  a message saying  “Thank you for the weeks with our team and we wish you good luck.”
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Huska, a Slovakian who went to UConn, will be vying for a spot on the taxi squad after appearing in three games for Zvolen, going 2-1 with a goals against average of 2.27 and a .921% save percentage. He spent last season mostly with Hartford as the back up to Igor Shesterkin.