The NHL schedule this season has been nothing if not quirky, and the New York Rangers will now experience one of those. The team will be off for this entire week after last night’s game, not playing again until Saturday. With that they’ve made several roster moves to maximize their cap savings and give chances to play in the minor leagues. Dustin Tokarski has been recalled to the Rangers, while Matt Beleskey, Vinni Lettieri and Alexandar Georgiev have all been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.
The Rangers of course are coming off a crushing defeat at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets, where they allowed three third period goals before losing in a shootout. Head coach David Quinn benched young defenseman Brady Skjei, and has had trouble finding any consistency from many of his key players this season. The team is still actually within striking distance of the playoffs, but have to get moving in the right direction if they want to get there.
That will require close watch of the salary cap, as they are pressed right up against it but have a chance to save quite a bit over the next few days. The team will almost certainly send Tokarski back down in time for Saturday’s game, but Georgiev will get a chance to stay fresh in an AHL game if they choose to insert him. That’s the benefit at this point of waiver-exempt players, who can be moved up and down without risk.