The Rangers have placed Dylan Garand and Taylor Raddysh on waivers.
Adam Rotter: I’m a little surprised that Raddysh isn’t going to be the 13th forward. That is probably his best role at this point and as a spare forward who can step in with injuries. It’s possible that the Rangers are going to start the season rotating Matt Rempe and Jaro Chmelar on the fourth line with the other being a spare.
It also means that the Rangers will start with eight defensemen and not risk Matthew Robertson or Scott Morrow on waivers. It does no good for Morrow to just sit so they must hope that waiving him later will allow him to clear waivers easier. They knew that acquiring Sean Durzi and keeping Braden Schneider would potentially put Morrow in this position. I guess it’s possible the Rangers try and move Morrow for a similar defenseman that is still waiver exempt and can play in Hartford.
With Garand, it’s a risk and the Rangers could lose him for nothing like they did with William Trudeau yesterday. The Rangers are obviously set with Igor Shesterkin in net and Jonas Korpisalo is a much more seasoned NHL goalie and he’s signed through next season. Still, Garand was very impressive in his short stint at the end of last season. It was a small sample size and maybe too much was put into something positive in a lost season, but losing him for nothing will be frustrating. But the Rangers knew this was possible when they acquired Korpisalo. They clearly wanted someone with experience to back up Shesterkin and in doing so they may lose Garand.
