The New York Rangers have announced their first round of cuts and they are as follows:
***** UPDATE *****
According to Andrew Gross in his Rangers Rants,blog for the (Bergen) Record "For technical reasons regarding waivers, Tyler Arnason, Dane Byers, Corey Locke, Patrick Rissmiller and Jordan Owens are continuing training camp with Hartford (AHL) but are still part of the Rangers' current plans. Hartford practices Saturday, Sunday and Monday with their first game Wednesday."
The technical explanation for the move comes from Mike Obernauer of the NY Daily News Blueshirts Blog who explains it this way, "
"Okay, so technically there are 34 players still officially in Rangers camp, but forwards Tyler Arnason, Dane Byers, Corey Locke, Jordan Owens and Patrick Rissmiller have been sent to "continue training camp with Hartford" – those five guys would need to pass through waivers to go down to Hartford, so this maneuver puts that off until it's necessary and leaves some insurance forwards still technically in camp. Locke and Byers will play in one more preseason game, likely Saturday in Boston, but it's likely their next one will be in a Wolf Pack sweater. And then, given the Rangers' situation at center, Arnason shouldn't stray too far from a phone."
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Thanks to MikeA for the update information
PLAYERS ASSIGNED TO HARTFORD (AHL) ON 9/17/09:
Goal: Miika Wiikman
Defense: Trevor Glass, Brent Henley, Sam Klassen, Mike Sauer, David Urquhart, Nigel Williams
Forwards: Andres Ambuhl, Daniel Bartek, Devin DiDiomete, Brodie Dupont, Dan LaCouture, Matt Maccarone, Justin Soryal, Dale Weise
PLAYERS RETURNED TO JUNIORS ON 9/17/09:
Goal: Scott Stajcer (Owen Sound, OHL)
Defense: Tomas Kundratek (Medicine Hat, WHL)
Forwards: Ryan Bourque (Quebec, QMJHL), Roman Horak (Chilliwack, WHL), Ethan Werek (Kingston, OHL)
PLAYERS STILL IN NEW YORK RANGERS TRAINING CAMP:
Goal: Chad Johnson, Henrik Lundqvist, Steve Valiquette, Matt Zaba
Defense: Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy, Dan Girardi, Ilkka Heikkinen, Corey Potter, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Bobby Sanguinetti, Alexei Semenov, Marc Staal
Forwards: Artem Anisimov, Tyler Arnason, Sean Avery, Brian Boyle, Donald Brashear, Dane Byers, Ryan Callahan, Paul Crowder, Chris Drury, Marian Gaborik, Evgeny Grachev, Christopher Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin, Corey Locke, Jordan Owens, P.A. Parenteau, Vinny Prospal, Patrick Rissmiller, Aaron Voros
There were no major surprises on this list. The only thoughts we had are that A) Mike Sauer got sent down so soon and B) Miika Wiikman was never given a game with the big club.
In terms of who’s going where . You know the names that are a lock to stay in the Big Apple. Lundqvist, Girardi, Redden, Rozsival, Staal, Avery, Brashear, Callahan, Drury, Gaborik, Higgins, Kotalik, and Prospal. That’s 13 names. That leaves them needing ten more to round out the roster.
Our front runners for those remaining jobs are as follows.
Goal: Valiquette
Defense: Del Zotto, Gilroy, Semenov
Forwards: Anisimov, Boyle, Byers, Grachev, Lisin and Parenteau
That means that heading to the Capitol City would be Johnson and Zaba in the net, Heikkinen, Potter, Sanguinetti on defense with Arnason, Crowder, Locke, Owens, Rissmiller and Voros up front. Combined with who is already here, this is going to be one formidable line up. We’ll even take it one step further and name Dale Weise team Captain along with Owens and Potter as his Assistant Captains.
So now you’ve got our final analysis of who’s staying and who’s going. What do you think?
Comments (9)
MikeAsays:
September 17, 2009 at 5:53 PMMitch, 3 points; 1. I’m a little disappointed that Owens didn’t get to stick a little longer after he played a very good game last night and scored another clutch goal. What do you think? I still say he can play 4th line.
2. It’s a little sad to say but i think Sauer’s days in the Rangers organization are nearing an end; he’s not a fit in a Torts system. I hope he continues to play well and proves me wrong, but he’s an RFA after this year.
3. Voros isn’t going anywhere; he’s Gaborik’s best friend and now Henrik’s buddy so no matter how he plays, he’ll continue to be part of that entourage.
Mitch Becksays:
September 17, 2009 at 6:08 PMMike,
I agree about Owens. I’ve been saying that since mid-last season as you might recall. I think he’s as good or better than Lisin who’ll be a fourth line guy.
Unfortunately I think Sauer is in the same boat that P.A> was in last season. Renney didn’t like P.A>’s game and didn’t give him a fair shake because he wasn’t “his kind of guy.” Mikey is in that boat this season because he’s totally defensive minded. As far as Voros is concerned, if you keep him at forward, who comes back to Hartford? Byers or Semenov or Potter. I think they’ve settled on Lisin being a part of the team. So that leaves either Byers or Voros. I guess who plays better in the last couple of games will be the story. BTW, if Byers does go to Hartford then he becomes team captain and Weise and Owens/Potter becaome Assistants.
I will stand by my guess though…friend or not, I think Byers makes the Rangers.
MikeAsays:
September 17, 2009 at 6:50 PMMitch, as per Andrew Gross, Byers will be sent back to Hartford along with Locke, Arnason, Rissmiller, and Owens.
http://njmg.typepad.com/rangersblog/
I don’t know if you’ve watched either Entourage on HBO or WWF in the 80s; but Voros is Turtle/Brutus Beefcake to Gaborik’s Vince/Hulk Hogan.
Emilysays:
September 17, 2009 at 8:53 PMWhat do you think will happen to Miika? Will he be in Hartford, Charlotte, or gone?
Mitch Becksays:
September 17, 2009 at 9:06 PMIf they keep Voros, then you send another guy, likely Byers, back to Hartford. I think that’s a mistake. Byers costs less and does just as much. You can’t write off the Turtle-factor in the equation, but Tortorella has been saying merit this and merit that…keeping a guy here to carry someone’s golf bag isn’t exactly earning it by merit.
In terms of Miika, I think he’s headed to Charlotte which is just not right. Maybe he will get traded to a team willing to play him where he’s at or he could even go home and play. I happen to be extremely fond of Miika and think he has terrific talent. He needs to play big in camp, but if you’re a fan of his, as I am, it’s not looking good for him to stay here. Truthfully, if they send him to Charlotte I’m hoping he lights it up there and warrants a trade to a team that can use him. He deserves as much.
jacksays:
September 17, 2009 at 10:14 PMTort’s has to answer to the same guy Renney did.
According to Tort’s it is based on merit..then Rozy should never play another game…he is horrible.
Byers and Sauer get one game to prove themselves…yet the punching bag gets to stay, Voros makes a million dollars a year and they wont give that to Dubi because he is restricted…I don’t play Dubi one bit.
Owens scores a goal and plays well and he is sent down…Voros gets beat up and gets to stay…just doesn’t make any sense.
For all the good that is done…they cant ever let you get too excited…truly a shame.
jacksays:
September 18, 2009 at 7:33 AMMitch, I just read that Byers and Owens would have to clear waivers if sent to Hartford, is that true?
If so, neither would make it through and Sather will let them go over Voros who has cleared and will always clear and why is Crowder getting a longer look..doesn’t make since at all
rcmsays:
September 18, 2009 at 10:19 AMTorts is a very emotional type coach who likes hustle,conditioning, offense and being 100% mentally into the game.Compare that to Renney who wanted positioning , defense first etc. I thought Renney teams played flat-footed at times.It’s no wonder to me that a Renney team could be up 5-0 against Montreal and lose the game. Or that the Rangers could be up 4-0 against the Caps and lose the game.
Add the above to the fact that Gilroy at 25 with no pro experience and just out of college looks like the best player on the Rangers so far.
So who makes the last spots on the team? Whoever of these youngsters shows that exceptional hustle and strength in the next two exhibitions that Gilroy has already shown in the first two exhibition games.
rcmsays:
September 19, 2009 at 11:26 PMByers because of his age has to go through waivers. I hope they can keep him.Perhaps Voros as mentioned above can make it through waivers again.
Rangers looked real good against Boston today.The main negative I saw was Semenov continuing to take too many penalties – looks a little slow now. Maybe he could make it through waivers.
Otherwise I think your choices look good Mitch.