Left wing Wojtek Wolski and defenseman Jeff Woywitka have accepted two-week conditioning assignments to join the Connecticut Whale according to reports throughout the New York media.
Both players are likely going to see a lot of ice time with the Whale as the Rangers will want them to get in game shape and at the same time showcase the two in an attempt to move both elsewhere. It’s become quite obvious that with the team playing as well as they are that with the team getting healthy again that neither player has a place in the team’s plans.
The play of ex-Whale defenseman Stu Bickel has earned him a spot as the sixth or seventh defenseman and has made Woywitka expendable. Bickel certainly is not coming back to Hartford. If the team wanted to send him back, Bickel would have to pass through waivers and almost certainly he would be picked up by another team and that is something the Rangers are not prepares to allow to happen.
Wolski, who will turn 26 on February 24th, on the other hand is a more difficult player for the Rangers to move. as he is in the final year of a contract that puts a gaping full-season salary cap hole of $3.8M. It’s a safe bet that the Rangers will try and move Wolski by the trade deadline and get something for him or attempt to put him through waivers just to save the money. Given that the 6’3, 210-pound left winger has only played in nine games this season and had a sports hernia that caused the bulk of it will mean that the Rangers will get little to nothing back for the Zabrze, Poland native…
Just as Eric Christensen did not count against the cap nor count as a veteran against the Whale during his conditioning stint, neither will Wolski or Woywitka for now.
Perhaps given that both NEED to play well while down in Hartford, maybe they can help the Whale end their current eleven game losing streak (0-6-3-2). They’ll get their chance starting tomorrow night in Hartford against the Albany Devils starting at 7pm. You can follow all of the action as we cover the game live on Twitter at @howlingstoday.
This is an awesome oppurtunity to see some good players play in Hartford.
I really just hope that they can fit in right away and help the Whale through this slump.
With Bickel earning a spot as a sixth or seventh defenseman, I wondering why Torts doesn’t play him in the third period and goes with just 5 defenseman
Andy, My guess is that while Tortorella likes what he’s seen to this point, he doesn’t have the confidence in Bickel’s play yet to put him out there in key situations yet…Look at it as on the job training…