KLASSEN AND CHAPPELL MOVE UP FROM GREENVILLE 

The Connecticut Whale have announced that Sam Klassen has been reassigned by the Rangers to the AHL from Greenville of the ECHL.

Also left-winger Chris Chappell is heading north.

The immediate question is this:

Is Michael Del Zotto heading back to NY and is Ryan McDonagh also staying? Also, is Wade Redden going to remain out a while longer to warrant having another defenseman here?

Logic would tell you that if he’s being brought here it isn’t to sit in the stands and watch, it’s to play so some scenario exists where some of these players are “in play.”

But you also have to look at it the other way too. Del Zotto isn’t being brought up to sit and McDonagh isn’t going to sit either. Unless the Rangers are gong to sit Steve Eminger, the only veteran defenseman on the roster, one of them will be in the stands and that does neither of them any good.

So the question is this..does Del Zotto stay or do they flip he and McDonagh and is Redden’s injury going to take more time?

Those answers may come later today or we may not find out again until the Rangers take the ice tonight and the Whale on Friday night.

Here’s the official release:

DEFENSEMAN SAM KLASSEN REASSIGNED TO WHALE

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Rookie was +11 in 34 games with ECHL Greenville

HARTFORD, CT – Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the parent New York Rangers have reassigned defenseman Sam Klassen to the Whale from the club’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors.

Klassen, a 6-2, 199-pound rookie out of the Western Hockey League, has skated in 34 games for the Road Warriors this year and has scored one goal and added six assists for seven points, while serving 36 minutes in penalties.  Klassen’s plus/minus rating of +11 ranks second among Road Warrior defensemen and tied for fourth overall on the team.

The Rangers signed Klassen as a free agent July 27, 2009.  In four WHL years with the Saskatoon Blades Klassen, a 22-year-old native of Watrous, Saskatchewan scored seven goals and added 74 assists for 81 points, and had 345 PIM, in 249 games.

(Sam Klassen photo courtesy of hockeysfuture.com)

Here’s the Chappell release:

RANGERS REASSIGN FORWARD CHRIS CHAPPELL TO WHALE

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Winger had 11 Points in 24 ECHL Games with Greenville

HARTFORD, CT: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the parent New York Rangers have reassigned forward Chris Chappell to the Whale from the club’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors.

Chappell, a 6-4, 212-pound second-year pro, had 11 points, four goals and seven assists, and 19 penalty minutes in 24 games with Greenville.  Last year the 22-year-old Pickering, Ontario native skated in six AHL games with the Hartford Wolf Pack, going scoreless with five penalty minutes, and was limited to 11 games in an injury-marred campaign with the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers.  In those 11 contests, Chappell had one goal and three assists for four points.

The Rangers signed Chappell as a free agent July 2, 2009 from the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.  Chappell played four seasons of OHL action for the Spirit, totaling 248 games, with 70 goals and 84 assists for 154 points, along with 243 PIM.

(Photo courtesy of newyorkrangers.com)