It looks like the Rangers have at least temporarily solved their surplus forward problem, as they have dealt Erik Christensen and a 7th round pick in 2012 to the Wild for Casey Wellman.
Christensen had been a spare part for the Rangers for a long time, and hadn’t played in a NHL game since December 17. The enigmatic and inconsistent center had once shown some chemsitry with Marian Gaborik, but that was short lived. His inconsistent effort quickly made him an afterthought in the Rangers organization.
Wellman is a 24 year old center who has played 41 games at the NHL level over the past three seasons, totaling four goals and nine assists for 13 points. Wellman was an undrafted free agent signed by the Wild after his senior season at UMass-Amherst, where he was a point-per-game player. Per Hockey Wilderness, it doesn’t appear that Wellman got a legitimate shot at the top six in Minnesota, and spent most of his time playing with Brad Staubitz on the third and fourth line.
Christensen was in his last year of a two year contract that paid him $925,000 per season. Wellman is in the final year of a two-way contract that pays him $850,500 at the NHL level. Wellman will be a RFA at the end of his contract.
Per Katie Strang, the Rangers have assigned Jeff Woywitka and Wojtek Wolski to the Connecticut Whale of the AHL on a two week conditioning stint. This is to get them into some games so that they are not rusty, as neither has played much recently. Woywitka hasn’t played since December 30, and Wolski since January 15. Both had been serving as injury replacements in the lineup when need be.
Woywitka and Wolski are the second and third Rangers to be assigned to CT on a conditioning stint. Erik Christensen was assigned last month and has since completed his stint.
As expected, goaltender Chad Johnson was returned to the AHL immediately following last night’s 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Johnson was called up to serve as the backup to Henrik Lundqvist. Martin Biron was supposed to start the game, but was scratched with the flu. With no games for the next week, it is likely that Biron will be healthy enough for action when games resume.
In other news, per Josh Rimer, Carl Hagelin is expected to be named to the Rookie Game as an injury replacement. Good to see the kid get rewarded for his play. He has succeeded exceeded everyone’s expectations, even those who watched him reguarly at Michigan.
Per the AHL Transaction Log, the Rangers have called up forward Erik Christensen and goaltender Chad Johnson. Christensen’s call up is obvious: his two week training stint with the Whale ended.
As for Johnson, it looks like he will dress as the backup tonight, as Martin Biron –the slated starter for tonight– is out with the flu.
The Johnson call up is clearly temporary, but it will be interesting to see how the Rangers handle Christensen. Wojtek Wolski has been just as useless as Christensen, but Christensen’s cap hit is $3 million less. It wouldn’t shock me to see Wolski waived in lieu of Christensen.
The Rangers have returned forward Kris Newbury to the CT Whale of the AHL. Newbury’s second stint with the Rangers lasted one game, where he was on the ice for three Canadiens goals. Newbury finished the game with under seven minutes of ice time and a -3 rating. He looked incredibly lost against a much faster Montreal team.
Newbury’s return to CT means that one of Brandon Dubinsky or Ruslan Fedotenko will be ready to go tomorrow against Nashville.
The Rangers have called up Kris Newbury from the CT Whale. The call up is likely a precautionary move to replace Ruslan Fedotenko in the lineup, who left last night’s game with back spasms.
Brandon Dubinsky is still a game time decision with his shoulder injury. If Dubi can play, then Newbury likely won’t dress. If he can’t then expect to see Newbury slide into Fedotenko’s spot in the lineup.
In an attempt to get Erik Christensen back playing hockey, the Rangers have assigned him to the CT Whale for a conditioning assignment, per Katie Strang. Christensen has been a healthy scratch for 20 games this season, including the past 10 games. Ironically, the last time he dressed was against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 17, the team the Rangers just beat last night.
Christensen is not being straight up demoted to the AHL, like Sean Avery was earlier this month. Christensen accepted a conditioning assignment, which means he will be back with the team once it is over. Christensen was not placed on waivers, and this is not a permanent move, yet.
The press release is after the jump.
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As predicted here, Sean Avery has been waived by the Rangers. This is a salary cap move, as Avery and his $1.9 million salary needs to be cleared, especially if he’s not even playing.
We covered this here, here, here, here, and here. I’m actually incredibly sick of this topic. Avery has become bigger than the team, which is impressive considering he’s a fourth liner. He barely played, and was a healthy scratch. Mike Rupp’s return made this inevitable.
As expected, the Rangers returned Tim Erixon to the Connecticut Whale immediately following last night’s loss to the Caps. Erixon was out of the lineup last night, but was kept with the team as an emergency replacement in the event that one of the six remaining defensemen got injured during the game. Thankfully, that was not the case, as all six survived the game.
Erixon did not receive a big chunk of ice time, but was definitely serviceable. His cap hit may prevent another call up this year, but that’s not to worry. He will benefit from big minutes in all situations in the AHL.
Erixon did not record a point in his second stint –four games– with the team, but he recorded two PIMs, four hits, and seven blocked shots.
The injuries to the Rangers blue line continue to mount. Jeff Woywitka left practice early today, and as a result the Rangers called up rookie defenseman Tim Erixon, per Chris Botta. The move hasn’t formally been announced yet, nor does the AHL Transaction Log have anything on it, but it is expected to be announced shortly.
One delay in the announcement could be because of salary cap restraints, which is believed to be the reason why Erixon wasn’t called up to replace Steve Eminger (and why Stu Bickel was). In any case, Erixon is with the Rangers, but unlikely to play unless Woywitka can’t go (bruised foot from blocking a shot). The Rangers blue line is a mess, and with no changes coming in the next week, this could be a long four games.
