The Connecticut Whale and the Roster Cuts

October 1, 2011 | Posted by Leslie Treff

This morning the Rangers announced what is (almost) their last roster cut. Although there were a couple of surprises, and probably none of those that were cut are happy on their way home, there was a chance that had the bulk of them not been sent to Connecticut, the Whale might have gone winless this entire season.

The Rangers announced the reassignment of eight players this morning, including Ryan Bourque, Carl Hagelin, John Mitchell, Kris Newbury, Dale Weise, Tim Erixon and Blake Parlett to Connecticut, and Dylan McIlrath, who has been assigned to Moose Jaw of the WHL.

Weise, Newbury, and Mitchell will have to go through waivers. The reassignments of Weise and Hagelin are somewhat of a surprise, as each probably outplayed Sean Avery for a spot on the NHL team. Weise could easily be picked up by another team, and although that might be the best for him (give the young right winger, who could play on the third or fourth line, a chance with another organization), it would be a needless loss to the Rangers.

Hagelin, who is older than most of the Rangers’ rookie professionals, could play on the penalty kill in the NHL right now. With his speed and stickwork, its somewhat of a surprise that the Rangers kept Erik Christensen and Avery over Hagelin, but he should be one of the first call ups during the season, or even sooner, should a deal take place.

The other surprise is Erixon, who had a real shot at making the team, but has not played very well over the last two weeks. With the Rangers’ defensive woes, it was thought that he would stay longer, but there appears to be hope that Marc Staal’s problem is in his neck and the treatment he has received has corrected the problem. Mike Sauer is day-to-day and, although he will miss tomorrow’s game, he should be ready for the season opener.

Without Newbury, Mitchell, Bourque, Weise and Hagelin, the Connecticut Whale’s offense was anemic last night. And without Pavel Valentenko and Erixon, the blueline was pretty ineffective. The addition of these players will make the Whale competitive, and give Bourque, Hagelin, and Erixon excellent professional experience.

As for a report on the Rangers’ prospects that did play at Quinnipiac University last night, where the Worcester Sharks defeated the Whale 2-1 on two second-period goals, Chad Johnson looked pretty good.

He did let in the two goals, but one was a fluke, and the other, he got no help from his D. Johnson has been kicking his rebounds out better, but he still can get caught going down to early, giving the shooter too much of the net to look at. Generally, he is progressing, and hopefully, he will get to play regularly in the AHL to see whether he is a prospect that the Rangers should sign for a longer term.

Andre Deveaux had one excellent fight and was generally intimidating all over the ice, having a very good game, when just about 3 minutes before the game ended, in a one goal game, he went after a Worcester player who stood no more than five foot nine and tried to take his head off. Deveaux looked like he missed, but got a penalty anyway, which killed the chances of Connecticut coming back to tie the game. It was an undisciplined move and one that he has to eliminate from his game if Deveaux wants a promotion.

Neither Jyri Niemi nor Tomas Kundratek had their best game, but Lee Baldwin has been looking better than last season. Baldwin is big, as the size to be aggressive, and when he plays that way, he is very effective.

Andreas Thuresson, who was one of the Rangers’ best players last week against Philadelphia, showed several times that kind of play was not going to be a one-shot deal, but he needs more skilled forwards as linemates to really be effective.

Tomorrow, it will be back to the Hartford area for another pre-season Whale game. If you are in the area, it will be a good opportunity to see some of the Rangers prospects for just $5.

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