The Rangers have made a trade today, sending Aaron “The People’s Champ” Voros and prospect Ryan Hillier to Anaheim in exchange for Steve Eminger. Voros, in the last year of his contract, had become expendable a long time ago, but the signing of Derek Boogaard made his exit from Broadway all but certain. In return, the Rangers get Eminger, a 27 year old defenseman, who is in the final year of a contract that will be a $1.125 million cap hit this season. The Rangers, believe it or not, take on more cap space in this deal than with Voros. Eminger is a solid blue liner who may not put up much offense, but will play decent defense. He had a 3.0 GVT last season with the Ducks.
This move could be another step in the plan of dumping Wade Redden in Hartford. With Eminger, the Rangers have six defensemen under contract, including Redden, but not including Marc Staal or Ryan McDonagh. This is a very interesting deal, because assuming that the Rangers sign Staal, that makes seven defensemen, and McDonagh. This just adds more fuel to the fire that the Rangers are seriously considering waiving Wade Redden.
Several Twitter posts have said the Rangers waived Donald Brashear, Aaron Voros, and Patrick Rissmiller. There are rumors of them being bought out, but the only one that makes sense to buyout from a salary cap perspective would be Voros. Rissmiller hasn’t been with the team since he signed his contract, and a buyout would just add an unnecessary cap hit. A Brashear buyout won’t save any money, as he is on an over-35 contract. A Voros buyout would result in a $400,000 cap hit this season ($600,000 savings), and a $300,000 cap hit next season, when Voros would be off the books.
I do not believe these players were waived for potential buyouts, but waived to create cap room. Waiving Brashear saves the Rangers $100,000, and Voros saves the Rangers $1 million. Waiving Rissmiller is a technicality, as his salary has never counted against the Rangers cap hit. That’s $1.1 million saved by waiving them. It’s a simple matter of clearing cap space, much like what the Rangers did at the trade deadline.
Today marks Day One of the 15 day buyout period for NHL contracts. Teams have until June 30 to decide if they will buy players out. Spector at FOX Sports looks at each teams’ buyout candidates, and mentions Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival as potential candidates for the Rangers. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that Redden will be bought out, and this has been discussed ad nauseam here and around the Rangers community.
While buying out Rozsival has only been discussed once here , it’s far less restrictive than buying out Redden. With a cap hit of $2 million or less for three of the four buyout years (a cap hit of $3 million for the other year), this is a far more likely scenario from a monetary standpoint. However, the coaching staff and management are happy with Rozsival, and it was shown by giving him the ‘A’ when Ryan Callahan was out of the lineup at the end of the season. While buying out Redden is unlikely from a monetary standpoint, buying out Rozsival is equally unlikely from a coaching/management standpoint.
When looking at the buyout period realistically, the only candidate that could or would be bought out would be Aaron Voros. Of course, buying out Voros doesn’t provide much cap relief, just $600,000 in extra space this season ($400,000 cap hit), and a $300,000 cap hit for next season, when Voros’ contract will have expired. This doesn’t really offer much of anything for the Rangers, so expect them to be quiet from a buyout perspective. There just simply aren’t any players that can be bought out that make sense fiscally and for the betterment of the team.
With the acquisitions of Brandon Prust and Jody Shelley, and the likelihood that at least one will be resigned, it appears that Aaron Voros may have run his course on Broadway. The majority will remember “The People’s Champ” for his $1 million salary for a fringe player, but some will remember that he always gave 100% when he played. Giving it your all every game is something that we as fans expect, but rarely see from a good portion of the Rangers.
Management’s options for Voros are a lot more abundant than their options with some of the high priced veterans. Voros has one year at $900k left on his contract ($1 million cap hit). Teams operating with an ownership cap might find the slight discount to be appealing. It is possible that a team would trade a lower pick (something to the equivalent of what the Rangers gave for Shelley) for Voros’ services. He is a short term commitment, which is something a lot of teams are looking for.
The Rangers also seem to have no problem waiving the winger, as he has been waived at the trade deadline each of the past two years to make room for any potential deals that might come their way. Waiving Voros and putting him in the minors seems to be an option that ownership is willing to accept as well.
Then there’s the curious case of buying him out. Voros has one year at $900k remaining. Voros’ buyout cap hit would be $400k for the 2010-2011 season and $300k for the 2011-2012 (for an explanation of how this is calculated, view the Understanding the Cap page).
The buyout amount is actually a little steep considering they can just keep him for next season and then have the cap hit eliminated for good. The most beneficial move for the Rangers to make would be to trade Voros and try to recoup that late pick they gave up for Jody Shelley. With the Rangers in a bad salary cap situation, Voros may be one of the first cap casualties of the 2010 offseason.
As per Steve Zipay, Ryan Callahan is out tonight with his leg injury, being replaced in the lineup by the recently called up P.A. Parenteau. The other player called up, Anders Eriksson, will be in the lineup tonight, replacing Matt Gilroy. Gilroy only played 10:05 in the shootout win against New Jersey on Thursday night.
The other minor lineup change for tonight is that Aaron Voros will indeed return tonight, and Enver Lisin will be the additional healthy scratch.
Aaron Voros has tweeted that he may find himself back in the lineup on Saturday against Toronto. This is bad news for Ryan Callahan, who re-injured his leg in last night’s thriller against New Jersey. To quote Voros, stay tuned.
Still posting from my phone. Enver Lisin and Aaron Voros have been waived.
As per Steve Zipay, scratched again will be Donald Brashear, with Aaron Voros joining him in the Prucha Box. Coach John Tortorella is playing with the lines tonight against Washington, putting the newly acquired Olli Jokinen between Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky, who is shifting to wing. Erik Christensen will center Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborirk.
It’s good to see that Torts is, at least attempting to, spread the scoring out. A front loaded line of Prospal-Jokinen-Gaborik will always draw the top defensive pairing. By spreading it out, you make other coaches rethink that strategy. Yes, Gaborik will still draw top defensive pairings, but maybe the combination of Dubi-Jokinen-Cally can spark the Rangers offense.
As per Andrew Gross, Ales Kotalik will be scratched tonight for the third time this season. Kotalik has been even less than I thought he would be, which is tough because I didn’t expect much. Donald Brashear will be a scratch tonight also, and Chad Johnson will make his second start of his career.
Enver Lisin and Aaron Voros, who have been the most common Prucha victims, are getting some playing time at the expense of Brashear and Kotalik. What a fantastic way to spend $4.4 million.
As per Andrew Gross, Erik Christensen will be in tonight for the injured Vinny Prospal. Chris Higgins will be on the top line with Brandon Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik. Hopefully it will help him get some bounces to go his way.
Chris Drury may or may not play tonight, so Aaron Voros will partake in the warmups, and will play if Drury cannot go tonight.
Trades | Dave, 9 Jul 10 | 
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