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.
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.
With the injuries mounting, the Rangers had to recall a defenseman just to have enough bodies on the blue line. That defenseman is Stu Bickel, who has been recalled by the Rangers. In 27 games with the CT Whale, Bickel has a goal, three assists, and 80 PIMs. He has been one of the more steady defensemen on the Whale’s blue line.
The decision to call up Bickel as opposed to Tim Erixon or Brendan Bell was made for two reasons. First, the Rangers have minimal cap space available, as Mike Rupp is no longer on LTIR. That essentially eliminated Erixon and his $1.75 million cap hit. Second, the Rangers need someone who is not subject to re-entry waivers, as the holiday roster freeze is tomorrow. That eliminated Bell, who needs re-entry waivers to be recalled.
Bickel was the last defenseman cut in camp, and has put together a solid season thus far for the Whale. He has certainly earned his shot, and as long as he plays well, will be with the team for the foreseeable future.
The press release is after the jump.
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Tim Erixon’s second call up was short lived, as the Rangers returned the rookie defenseman to the CT Whale of the AHL last night. Erixon was called up as a precaution for the Rangers road trip to St. Louis and Phoenix. Although many –including us– assumed he would be playing during this call up, John Tortorella specifically stated that Erixon was an emergency call up, and would be returned as soon as the road trip was over.
Much to his word, Erixon did not play and was returned even before the road trip ended. Erixon had recently returned from injury before his call up, and it is assumed the organization does not want to rush him.
It is curious that the Rangers didn’t intend to play him. If they needed an emergency guy, they have Brendan Bell in the AHL as well. But I guess the Rangers needed to be sure they would have the body in St. Louis (Bell needs waivers), and maybe Erixon needed another day or two before getting back on the ice. Regardless, still a curious decision to call him up.
What isn’t a curious decision is the decision not to force Erixon into the lineup. It’s easy to see why the organization might be tempted to do so: Marc Staal and Mike Sauer are out indefinitely with concussions, forcing them to play the Steve Eminger/Jeff Woywitka/Anton Stralman trio for extended minutes. While they have been up to the task initially, it’s assumed they won’t be able to keep this up. Combine that with Dan Girardi playing 75 minutes a game, and the Rangers blue line is in dire straits.
Erixon has a bright future, and it will be with this organization. There’s no need to stunt his growth by playing him before he’s ready. That is the right call, and it’s a call the Rangers have been making with almost all of their prospects in recent years.
The Rangers have announced that they have recalled defenseman Tim Erixon from the CT Whale of the AHL. Erixon has split time with the Rangers and the Whale, starting the season with the big club until being sent down for development purposes after nine games. In those nine games with the Rangers, Erixon did not register a point and finished with a -2 rating. In 13 games with the Whale in the AHL, Erixon has a goal and 11 assists (12 points) and 10 PIMs. He has an even rating.
This recall is likely due to the fact that Mike Sauer will not be back for the west coast swing, and the Rangers never travel west without a spare body. My assumption is that he will dress for both games, and that Jeff Woywitka is likely to be the odd man out. Woywitka was pretty solid last night, but it’s a matter of him being out played by both Steve Eminger and Anton Stralman.
Last season, injuries forced the Rangers to call up Ryan McDonagh, and he stuck with the team. This year, the Rangers already have Carl Hagelin up –who appears to be around for the long haul– and now it’s Erixon’s turn. A solid two game performance can really ease the Rangers troubles on their thin blue line.
The press release is after the jump.
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During yesterday’s Thanksgiving festivities, the Rangers made a pair of call ups that got the Twitter-verse and blog-o-sphere talking. Much hyped prospect Carl Hagelin, who has been tearing up the AHL, and John Mitchell were both recalled. In 17 games with the Whale, Hagelin has a line of 7-6-13 and a whopping +12 rating, while Mitchell has posted a line of 7-7-14 with a +1 rating.
Hagelin is one of the Rangers higher rated prospects, but fans have gravitated towards him because of his speed. Hagelin can seriously fly, but missed the cut out of camp because he needed to control his speed and use it at the right times. He struggled in his first few games with the Connecticut Whale, but really turned it on in the past few games, and has been the Whale’s best player thus far.
Both players being called up means the Rangers are looking to shake things up a bit. Likely out of the lineup is Andre Deveaux, who only played three minutes against the first half of the game –he was given a match penalty for an elbow to Tomas Fleishmann’s head. The hearing on that will be this morning.
The Rangers would only call up Hagelin to play on one of the top three lines. The current top three LWs are Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, and Ruslan Fedotenko. I’m no coach, but considering Fedotenko’s offensive struggles, inserting Hagelin on the third line could be done to help provide a boost to that line.
Running through the numbers, unless Mitchell is scratched the Rangers will need to scratch another forward from the lineup. The obvious candidates here are Erik Christensen and Sean Avery. Avery had less ice time against Florida, but had four more shifts than Christensen. It’s really a toss up to see who sits. My money would be on Avery, because Christensen does have some offensive talent that could potentially mix with Mitchell (who has put up decent numbers in the NHL before) or Hagelin/Fedotenko.
Just a note about why Hagelin was called up in lieu of Mats Zuccarello: there are salary cap issues with calling up Zuccarello. These could be solved with a few moves (placing Mike Rupp on LTIR), but it seems the Rangers want to get a good look at Hagelin at the NHL level. This is around the time last year when Ryan McDonagh forced his way on to the roster. So there may be something to this.
