Considering last night’s abysmal performance, it is unsurprising that some roster moves were made. Dane Byers, who played just 5:47 last night for a shorthanded Rangers squad, was sent back to Hartford after the game, and P.A. Parenteau was called back up for the second time this season. These two will be riding the New York/Hartford bus all year. Neither have played enough games in the NHL that qualifies them for waivers, and both appear to be fringe players, at least for the time being.
Some notes:
- As per Steve Zipay, Steve Valliquette will be in net tonight, and Enver Lisin will be returning to the lineup as well.
- As per Andrew Gross, Canucks defenseman Shane O’Brien has been suspended for jabbing his stick at Ranger winger Sean Avery during that melee in Vancouver.
- It is presumed that there will be no lineup changes, in terms of who is dressing, for tonight’s game. As noted above, Lisin is back; and as discussed yesterday, Dane Byers has been suspended for this game.
As per Andrew Gross, Ranger winger Dane Byers was suspended one game by the NHL for instigating the brawl at the end of last night’s game against Vancouver. Coach John Tortorella has also been fined $10,000. This is an automatic suspension / brawl for getting an instigator penalty.
As per SNY Rangers blog, citing Steve Zipay, whom I can’t access anymore thanks to Newsday charging for online content (really?), winger Enver Lisin is doubtful for tonight’s game against Vancouver after taking a shot off the foot against Boston on Sunday. Replacing him on the top line alongside Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik is the struggling Chris Higgins.
This is probably a move that has two meanings: 1) although he didn’t score, Higgins played a solid game against Boston. This is could be some sort of recognition of that, in an attempt to 2) get him on the scoreboard. It is no surprise that fans’ patience has been a little thin with Higgins. We all penciled him in for 20 goals, and 15 games into the season, he is one of four goalless Rangers. When the other three are Aaron Voros, Donald Brashear, and Michal Rozsival, it’s a little bit disturbing to put Higgins in that company. But, there’s a solid chance that this will work, as he’s playing with the two Rangers that average more than a point per game.
Also making the trip out west was Dane Byers, who will likely be filling in for the injured Donald Brashear. The rumor is that he injured his hand fighting Colton Orr way back when. If he produces, both on offense and in overall toughness, something the Rangers have lacked, we may be seeing a lot more than initially anticipated.
The Rangers have recalled Dane Byers this afternoon, but there was no word on P.A. Parenteau being sent to Hartford. As per Steve Zipay’s twitter, Marian Gaborik, Sean Avery, and Chris Higgins are all out tonight. Gaborik is out because of his injury, and it’s safe to assume Higgins is out because he forgot how to play hockey, but the Avery benching is a bit of a surprise. It’s clearly because of either an injury or a benching, but as of now, no word on what the reason is.
A lot of the recent Rangers signings have had undisclosed terms, so it’s been tough to find what they actually signed for. But here’s what I’ve b een able to find:
- Corey Potter – 1 year/$550k
- Dane Byers – 1 year/$500k
- Tyler Arnason – 1 year/$700k
- Brian Boyle – 1 year/$525k
- Jordan Owens – 1 year/$515k
- P.A. Parenteau – 1 year/$500k
- Tysen Dowzak – 2 years/$533k
- Michael Del Zotto – 3 years/$1.087 million cap hit (bonuses)
The entry level contracts on this list are Owens, Dowzak and Del Zotto, so they will be RFAs when the contracts expire. As for the rest, if they are going to be 27 when their contract expires, they will be UFAs, otherwise, they will be RFAs.
The Del Zotto signing, although looks expensive, is standard entry level contract (maximum of $850k base salary) plus bonuses, which bring the cap hit up. if he doesn’t participate in 11 NHL games, the payment slides a bit.
I have no idea when the Rangers signed Dowzak. I must have missed that. Can someone fill me in on when that happened?
Slats still has two key RFAs to sign (Lisin, Dubinsky), as I’m assuming Zherdev is gone. Lisin is important or else they just gave away Korpikoski for nothing.
Salary information courtesy of CapGeek.
Two little tidbits to help fill out the posting day:
- Mara signed with Montreal, who seems to be signing everyone under the sun lately. They are the only team in the NHL with a larger roster turnover this year than the Rangers. Losing Mara’s locker room presence hurts more than losing Mara the player.
- The Rangers signed Dane Byers, who will probably wind up on the 4th line out of camp this season. Terms are undisclosed as of now. I’ll update once the terms are released. Assume somewhere in the vicinity of $500,000-$600,000 range. Just a guess though, I don’t know what he made last year.
I would assume Slats is done wheelin’ and dealin’ for this offseason. The news about Dubinsky and Callahan should be coming in before July 20. I really don’t expect Callahan to go to arbitration, but filing for it protects him from qualifying offers. As for Dubinsky, he can still be the victim of a qualifying offer, but expect him to get signed to roughly 3 years/$6.75 million total.
The Depth Chart has been updated to reflect the Kotalik signing and the inevitable banishment of Nikolai Zherdev.
Call Ups/Send Downs | Dave, 13 Nov 09 | 
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