It’s getting down to the final cuts and two of last season’s Hartford Wolf Pack are on the bubble while one has appeared to have cemented his new address in New York.
Last night, after the Rangers 5-2 shellacking of the Boston Bruins in Beantown, Glen Sather announced Head Coach John Tortorella’s next round of cuts. Heading back to Hartford are Chad Johnson, (extremely impressive), Matt Zaba (solid, but had one bad outing) in net. On defense Hartford will get one more season with Corey Potter (showed he can play at that level, but could still use a little more work) and newcomer Ilkka Heikkinen (adjusting to the smaller rink and faster game) and up front Paul Crowder (edged out by the resigning of former Pack center Brandon Dubinsky).
Artem Anisimov will not be coming back to Hartford. If you witnessed his shorthanded goal, then you have no reason to ask why. In case you missed it…
The good news for two exceptional young men, P.A. Parenteau and New Jersey native Bobby Sanguinetti, is that their performances have been strong enough to give the team second thoughts about sending them back to “The Insurance Capital of the World.”
Here's a list of the players still vying for a spot on the final roster.
Goal:Henrik Lundqvist, Steve Valiquette
Defense:Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy, Dan Girardi, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Bobby Sanguinetti, Alexei Semenov, Marc Staal
Forwards:Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Brian Boyle, Donald Brashear, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Marian Gaborik, Evgeny Grachev, Christopher Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin, P.A. Parenteau, Vinny Prospal, Aaron Voros
Mitch, I see no mention of Byers or Owens…P.A goal was nice but it was set up by a great move and pass from Byers…Byers should stay over PA.
What makes me sick is to see Byers and Owens playing in the NHL for over 10 years on different teams because the Rangers were dumb enough to put them on waivers and keep Voros and PA over them…
Byers is a much much better player then Voros…
Byers should have been able to fill the shoes of Voros. I don’t like this one either.
The reason you don’t see Owens or Byers is because they were already sent to Hartford but just haven’t officially been moved through waivers just yet. There’s a good chance that Byers could get picked up on the way down. I agree with you on Voros. He’s useless except that he’s good buddies with Marion Gaborlimp. (I officially want the patent on that nickname…I don’t like mean spirited things, it just came to me last night and it’s just too funny).
Owens over P.A. is a tough call. I truly like Jordan as a player, I really do. The only thing though is the best he will ever be is a third line checker. On the other hand, P.A. has the potential to be a top two line scorer and given the go-go offensive style that Tortorella wants, P.A. has more upside. Byers over Voros as I said is the way the team should go, but trust me, they won’t.