At this time of the year, the waiver wire is active as teams try to sort their rosters out regarding who should be in the NHL and who should be in the AHL for organizational depth. For those that don’t know what the waiver wire does, it stops teams basically hogging every good depth player in the NHL and hiding them in the AHL where no other team can get to them, and the Rangers got bitten by that here.
Jarred Tinordi was likely the number eight defenseman on the roster heading into the season, but that kind of organizational depth is very important when we get to playoff time. What this means is that some of the young kids playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack may be coming to the NHL a little sooner if there are injuries without someone like Jarred Tinordi there to protect them and let them develop more.
Tinordi isn’t someone that was going to challenge for the top four in New York, but he was a strong emergency option for when the Rangers needed someone to come up and fill in. Not having someone who is experienced enough to go between the NHL and AHL and fill in the holes on both rosters may cause some disturbances for the Rangers moving forward. Not to mention, this will damage their depth when we get to the playoffs.
This isn’t earth-shattering news. This is likely not going to decide if the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup or not. But this will deeply impact the roster and the decisions the Rangers have to make when the trade deadline comes around if they still haven’t found a solution to help the defensive depth. New York’s current eighth defenseman is going to be a prospect and you do not want kids making their debuts in the playoffs under all that pressure.
New York now has some decisions to make. What do the Rangers do with their current roster depth? It appears after a long summer, this season will not get any easier for the New York Rangers and their management. Chris Drury and the front office will have a lot of decisions to make. Perhaps they’re content with the way the blueline is built now, but two injuries, and you’re in some trouble now.