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Snapshots: Westpoint, Kings’ Goaltenders, Lindholm

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On tonight’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast, the Sportsnet team revealed some interesting tidbits about stories around the league. One of which, coming on the heels of today’s hugely popular alumni game in Winnipeg (which the Jets won 6-5 on the back of Teemu Selanne’s five points and last second penalty shot goal), is that the league is considering non-conventional venues for upcoming outdoor games.

The military academy Westpoint is one of these out-of-the-box ideas, but seems to have legs. Elliotte Friedman says the league is considering it for next season. The New York Rangers would play in the game, but wouldn’t necessarily be the home team. Friedman also mentions South Bend (home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish) as another possibility.

  • Friedman talks about the goaltending situation in Los Angeles, which got even more dire today when Jeff Zatkoff went down with a groin injury. Peter Budaj, expected to be the AHL starter this season, may get an extended chance with the big club due to the contracts or trade demands of other goaltenders around the league. The Kings have reportedly looked into Ondrej Pavelec, Steve Mason, Reto Berra, Mike Condon but haven’t found a fit. Friedman opines that Jonathan Bernier may be an option for the team, due to his familiarity with the organization and expected availability.
  • Kelly Hrudey thinks that Brian Elliott isn’t fazed by his recent struggles for the Calgary Flames. Elliott isn’t starting tonight for the Flames, but that doesn’t mean that he’s in any danger of losing the #1 job in Calgary. If anything, his poor start might just buy the Flames a few dollars in their ongoing negotiations with the netminder.
  • A final point from Friedman was on the Hampus Lindholm situation in Anaheim and the Winnipeg negotiations with Jacob Trouba. Apparently Anaheim wants Lindholm to sign for less than $5.4MM per season, while the player wants more than that. On Trouba, apparently the asking price of Kevin Cheveldayoff hasn’t dropped any even with the holdout lasting into the season. If Trouba is moved, it will be for the big return that the Jets’ GM has been looking for all summer.

Off-Season Stories Providing Immediate Results

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In the world of professional sports, the off-season has turned into a period of perpetual risk. When even the slightest move is scrutinized and analyzed with such severity, teams are trying harder and harder to minimize those gambles.

This summer saw a few key story lines for some of the leagues biggest franchises, and many of them are providing early dividends. Let’s take a look at some of the most talked about players of the summer, and where they sit just a few games into the seasons.

Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs:

The first big name to drop, Matthews was selected first overall by the Maple Leafs after they held on to their #1 spot in the draft.  Seen as a franchise-type talent who could make an impact right away, Matthews proved he could play at this level at both the World Championships and the World Cup, before setting an NHL record in his first game with four goals.

With six points in his first four games (and two more assists tonight), the 19-year old Arizona-born centerman has already made an impact. He was made the second star in the first week of the season, and saw his jersey sales skyrocket to the top of the league. While it’s extremely unlikely he’ll continue at this pace for his entire rookie season, the Maple Leafs have to be please with his play thus far.

Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning

Expected to hit the open market and garner the most interest of any free agent in the history of the NHL, Stamkos instead decided to sign back with the Lightning at the beginning of the summer. GM Steve Yzerman committed long-term to the 26-year old, handing him an eight year, $68MM deal just before free agency started.

Stamkos hasn’t taken the money and sat back, with four points in his first four games (and another goal tonight). The former 60-goal man is off to a blistering start and will again battle for the Rocket Richard trophy. Fans everywhere will wonder what he could have done for their team had he decided to head somewhere else.

Jimmy Vesey – New York Rangers

The biggest (deserved or not) story of the entire center was the saga of Jimmy Vesey, a college standout who refused to sign with first the Nashville Predators, and then the Buffalo Sabres.  After months of speculation and build up, the winger decided to go to New York, where he would play with former teammate Kevin Hayes.

Though he had just one goal through his first four, Vesey has two more tonight, making people wonder just how effective he truly will be this season.  The pendulum of “top-six winger”-“third line ceiling” that we heard all summer isn’t determined yet, but his three goals are already more than most Rangers fans expected through five games.

Rangers Notes: Kreider, Hayes, Injuries

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After an early playoff exit last year, the Rangers have put an extra emphasis on speed this season, writes Allan Kreda of the New York Times.  Not only did they add fast skating forwards in Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri, and Mika Zibanejad, they’ve also encouraged their blueline to play a faster game as well.  While their speed up front has been noticeable, head coach Alain Vigneault has been pleased with its effects on their back end:

“What I like is that we’re using it well defensively. We haven’t given up as many shots and scoring chances. That has permitted us to retrieve the puck quicker and put the speed on display and counterattack to where hopefully it’s more fun: the other team’s end.”

One player who has benefitted from the focus on playing faster is Chris Kreider, who is off to the best start of his career with three goals and four assists in the first four games of the season.  Kreider attributes his fast start to being eliminated so quickly in the postseason last year as that gave him more time to train over the summer and his combination of speed and size has been evident in the early going this season.  So far, he’s giving the Rangers a strong early return on a four year, $18.5MM deal signed late in July.

[Related: Rangers Depth Chart]

Other Rangers news and notes:

  • Center Kevin Hayes is also benefitting from playing quicker as a result of dropping “a pretty good amount of weight” over the summer, notes Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. After taking a step back during his sophomore campaign last year, Vigneault has boosted Hayes’ ice time by over two minutes per game early on while trusting him to take some key faceoffs.  Hayes has responded by winning 50% of his draws so far; by comparison, he won only 36% last season.
  • Rookie winger Pavel Buchnevich is expected to miss at least the next two games due to back spasms, reports Newsday’s Steve Zipay. As for defenseman Dan Girardi, there’s a chance he plays in one of New York’s games this weekend but won’t suit up in both contests.  He has missed the last two games with a groin issue.

Rangers Reportedly Scouting The Ducks

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According to Arthur Staple of Newsday, New York Rangers assistant general manager Chris Drury and Gordie Clark, the team’s director of player personnel, were both on hand for Anaheim’s tilt in New Jersey Sunday. This of course led to speculation that a deal could be in the works between the two trades.

That speculation was further fueled by the appearance of four Rangers “scouts” at Tuesday night’s game between the Ducks and the Devils, as noted by Andrew Gross of The Record. Gross reported seeing Clark and Drury specifically in attendance.

The Ducks are off to a slow start (0 – 3 – 1) and have scored just seven goals in four games. They are also still working on re-signing RFA defenseman Hampus Lindholm and it has been rumored previously that the club would have to shed salary in order to make that happen. Recent reports have indicated the two sides are making progress on a deal, though some work remains. As of today, the Ducks are virtually capped out after agreeing to terms with Rickard Rakell on a new contract.

With top prospects Brandon Montour and Shea Theodore starting the season with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego, the team has the necessary depth to deal from their blue line once Lindholm is under contract. In addition to salary cap relief, the Ducks likely would want a young scoring-line winger to boost the team’s lackluster offense. This lines up with earlier reports this summer that the team was interested in adding a high-impact LW.

The Rangers have a plethora of NHL-quality forwards in the organization and could be willing to cash in on that depth in order to upgrade the team’s blue line. Kevin Klein and Dan Girardi have both missed time at the start of the season due to injury though it appears as if both blue liners will be back in the lineup relatively soon.

Hypothetically, a deal of Cam Fowler-for-J.T. Miller could work for both teams, though this is just my speculation. Miller and Fowler each have two seasons remaining on their current contracts, though the Ducks defenseman will be an unrestricted free agent upon the expiration of his deal while Miller will remain under team control. In this scenario the Ducks would save $1.25MM on their salary cap, not an unsubstantial amount but likely not enough on its own to re-sign Lindholm without additional moves.

It should also be noted that Miller has played mostly RW and C for the Rangers and wouldn’t address the Ducks previously stated desire for an impact LW. But at 23-years-old and coming off a 22-goal season in 201-16, Miller could certainly add some punch to Anaheim’s offense.

Of course just because the Rangers had several of their top evaluators on hand at a couple of games may simply be a coincidence. It’s possible they took advantage of the fact they were already in the New York area at the same time the Ducks just happened to be in town to play the Islanders and Devils, though the presence of such a heavy contingent would seem to indicate otherwise.

Central Snapshots: Avalanche, Gunnarsson, Lehtera, Brodziak, Stars

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After missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche perhaps surprisingly kept their roster mostly intact this past summer; though they did make one big change which is expected to impact their on-ice fortunes. Jared Bednar replaces Patrick Roy behind the bench and is being counted on to implement a system better-suited for the talent on hand and one that can compete in the tough Central Division. But as Terry Frei of The Denver Post argues, by sticking with this core group of players, making the playoffs isn’t going to be good enough for the Avalanche.

By virtue of the expensive long-term contracts doled out over the last couple of seasons to Semyon Varlamov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado has demonstrated an immense amount of faith that this group can guide the franchise to Stanley Cup contention, opines Frei. Those six players account for nearly half of Colorado’s cap commitments in the 2016-17 campaign and perhaps more importantly, all remain under contract to the Avalanche for at least the next three seasons. If this group underachieves yet again, it could make it that much tougher for GM Joe Sakic to receive fair value for these players in potential trade talks. Consequently, since his ability to spend on free agents will be restricted as well, it might be difficult moving forward to drastically change or augment the Avalanche roster.

More from the Central Division:

  • The Blues are 3 – 0 following their 3 – 2 win over the New York Rangers Saturday night but the victory could prove costly. Centers Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera along with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson all left last night’s tilt with injuries and did not return, notes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The exact nature and severity of the injuries are not known at this point and as Rutherford points out, with a day off today more information may not be available until Monday. Playing with 10 forwards and five defenseman for the entire third frame last night, the Blues hung on despite being outshot by the Rangers 15 – 0 in the period. With Petteri Lindbohm available in the minors, St. Louis is likely better-equipped to cover for the loss of Gunnarsson than they would be if both Lehtera and Brodziak were to miss extensive time.
  • Another Central Division team that’s had to deal with injuries in the early going is Dallas. Veteran forward Ales Hemsky has battled a groin issue and won’t be available for the first week or so of the season. Center Cody Eakin is expected to be out into November with a knee problem while Mattias Janmark’s season could be in jeopardy following knee surgery. With that much forward talent on the sideline, it would have been understandable if GM Jim Nill reacted by acquiring a veteran player or two, whether via trade or waivers, to buoy the team’s depth. But as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nill prepared his roster this summer by inking the likes of Adam Cracknell, Jiri Hudler and later, Lauri Korpikoski. Cracknell was expected to provide insurance at the AHL level but has been pressed into service early and has responded with a goal and an assist through two games. Korpiksoki had the final year of his deal bought out by Edmonton and failed to convert a training camp PTO into a roster spot with Calgary. The Stars inked Korpikoski, who has been criticized for his poor performance in the puck possession department, to a one-year deal which has already paid off for Dallas. The Finnish forward has already tallied a goal and is a plus-two so far this season. It appears as if Nill’s savvy, low-risk moves have a good chance of keeping the Stars ship afloat until reinforcements arrive in the form of Hemsky and Eakin.

Injury Reports: Rask, Girardi

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Injury notes from last night’s NHL games:

  • Tuukka Rask. The Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tuukka Rask sat out last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it was only after the game that the Bruins admitted to Rask’s injury, reports Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. The team did not disclose the nature or extend of Rask’s injury—they referred to it as soreness—but it’s believed to be a lower body ailment. The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy reports that Rask seemed to tweak something in the 3rd period of Thursday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rask left the ice during a TV timeout but returned for the rest of the game. Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin started in Rask’s place yesterday in the team’s 4-1 loss. It is unclear how long Rask will be sidelined, but if he misses considerable time, the Bruins will compete with the Los Angeles Kings to find a suitable stopgap.
  • Dan Girardi. The New York Rangers defensemen suffered a hip flexor injury last night against the St. Louis Blues. Girardi left the ice in the second period and did not return. After the game, coach Alain Vigneault speculated that while he doesn’t know the injury’s severity, he expects it to be more than day-to-day. Losing Dan Girardi is a blow to the Rangers’ blueline, but it gives former first round pick Dylan McIlrath another shot to impress the coaching staff. The Rangers were rumored to be shopping McIlrath earlier this month, but those talks may be on hold until Girari returns.

Snapshots: Russell, Lucic, Ducks, Pardy, Rangers

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Following yet another disappointing campaign for Edmonton in 2015-16, GM Peter Chiarelli orchestrated several changes to his team’s roster this offseason in an effort to build a playoff contender. Chiarelli dealt away two former first overall draft picks, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov (receiving Adam Larsson, a marginal prospect and a conditional draft choice in return), while signing free agents Milan Lucic and Kris Russell in free agency. Many in the hockey community at large weren’t particularly fond of Chiarelli’s moves and while it’s far too early to make any definitive judgement, through two games Lucic and Russell have done exactly what the Oilers and Chiarelli hoped for, as David Staples of the Edmonton Journal writes.

Staples has been tracking scoring chances for and against for every Oilers skater through two games. His research shows that Connor McDavid, who has simply been phenomenal already with six points on the young season, has been Edmonton’s best player by far, helping to generate better than six more scoring chances for than against, per 15 minutes of ice time. Lucic is second in that category with a differential of 4.82. Russell leads the defense corps with a 2.34 differential per 15 minutes of ice time. Incredibly, Russell has yet to make a single error leading to an opposition scoring chance through two games, based on Staples’ tracking.

Again, it’s too early to conclude anything for certain but the early returns on Lucic and Russell have to be encouraging for Chiarelli and Co. Obviously this team will only go as far as their superstar captain McDavid will lead, but should his two prized free agent acquisitions continue to perform at this level, Edmonton might yet prove the pundits wrong and compete for a playoff spot in 2016-17.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

  • Could the Anaheim Ducks soon find themselves at a crossroads with a roster core too old to compete for a Stanley Cup? Eric Stepens, who covers the team, asks that question in a post that appears in the Los Angeles Daily News. Stephens notes that the team’s three best forwards, Ryan Getzlaf (31), Corey Perry (31) and Ryan Kesler (32) are all on the wrong side of 30. At the same time, many of the league’s top stars – Johnny Gaudreau (23), McDavid (19), Auston Matthews (19) – are in their early-20’s or even younger. Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler also account for $23.75MM, or nearly one-third of this year’s salary cap, now that Kesler’s massive extension kicked in. These commitments leaves less space for the Ducks to flesh out the rest of their roster with quality talent as evidenced by their struggles to reach agreements with restricted free agents Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm.
  • After being released from his PTO with Florida, Adam Pardy has agreed to sign an AHL deal with the Panthers organization, tweets Harvey Fialkov. Pardy will report to Springfield and provide an experienced blue line depth option for Florida. He has appeared in 338 NHL games over parts of eight seasons. Pardy previously has seen action in the league with Calgary, Buffalo, Edmonton, Dallas and Winnipeg.
  • New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault was quite specific in how he put his forward lines together to start the 2016-17 campaign. By design, the team would ice three lines capable of scoring while the fourth line was to be comprised of “penalty killers and defensive specialists.” But after introducing rookies Pavel Buchnevich and Jimmy Vesey to the lineup, a couple of skilled veterans slid down the depth chart and onto the team’s fourth line. As Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post writes, the presence of Brandon Pirri and Michael Grabner at the bottom of the Rangers lineup has already paid dividends for the Blue Shirts. Grabner, a once tallied 34 goals as a member of the Islanders, netted the first marker of the season for the Rangers. Pirri, meanwhile, assisted on Grabner’s goal and potted his first as a New York Ranger on the power play. As long as the duo remain defensively-responsible, their ability to put the puck in the net will be welcome on the teams fourth line.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twelfth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)

Now we move forward to the twelfth pick, which was held by the New York Rangers.

To recap how this works:

  • We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
  • The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.

Back in 2005, the Rangers picked blueliner Marc Staal.  While the team was hopeful his two-way game from the junior level to the pros, that hasn’t been the case although Staal has been a core player in New York for quite some time as a shutdown defender.  He has played in 618 career NHL games – all with the Rangers – which ranks ninth highest among all players drafted in 2005.  Of those in front of him in that regard, only three others have played that many games with the team that drafted them.  Staal is likely to remain with the team for several more years as he still has five years left on his current contract (including this season) with a cap hit of $5.7MM with some form of no-trade protection in every year of the deal.

With the twelfth pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the New York Rangers select?  Cast your vote below!

With the 12th overall pick, the New York Rangers select...
Keith Yandle 35.85% (133 votes)
Paul Stastny 20.75% (77 votes)
Marc Staal 11.32% (42 votes)
Anton Stralman 7.55% (28 votes)
Patric Hornqvist 7.55% (28 votes)
Niklas Hjalmarsson 4.58% (17 votes)
Jack Johnson 4.31% (16 votes)
Matt Niskanen 2.43% (9 votes)
Justin Abdelkader 1.89% (7 votes)
Jared Boll 0.81% (3 votes)
Ondrej Pavelec 0.54% (2 votes)
Kris Russell 0.54% (2 votes)
Benoit Pouliot 0.27% (1 votes)
Martin Hanzal 0.27% (1 votes)
Jakub Kindl 0.27% (1 votes)
Andrew Cogliano 0.27% (1 votes)
Mason Raymond 0.27% (1 votes)
Vladimir Sobotka 0.27% (1 votes)
Sergei Kostitsyn 0.27% (1 votes)
Gilbert Brule 0.00% (0 votes)
Jack Skille 0.00% (0 votes)
Devin Setoguchi 0.00% (0 votes)
Steve Downie 0.00% (0 votes)
Cody Franson 0.00% (0 votes)
Darren Helm 0.00% (0 votes)
Nathan Gerbe 0.00% (0 votes)
Total Votes: 371

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Trade Suitors For Jacob Trouba

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TSN’s Bob McKenzie debuted ‘The Bobcast’ yesterday, weighing in on a variety of topics around the league.  Among those was Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba and who has shown interest in him so far.  McKenzie highlighted the Avalanche, Bruins, Coyotes, Rangers, and Red Wings as teams that have significant interest.  Let’s take a closer look at where Trouba would fit in on those teams and if they have the young left-shooting blueliner that the Jets reportedly are coveting in return.

Arizona: The Coyotes already have a very deep blueline but GM John Chayka hasn’t hesitated to add to their defensive depth since taking over in the offseason.  Trouba would conceivably fit in as their top pairing defender alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson which would give them a pretty dynamic duo as their anchors for years to come.

With Ekman-Larsson and newcomer Alex Goligoski both signed long-term, they’re not going anywhere and those are Arizona’s top two left shot defensemen.  Behind them currently are first rounder Jakob Chychrun, Kevin Connauton (injured), and Jarred Tinordi (suspended).  The latter two wouldn’t come close to securing a player like Trouba but the Jets are a draft-and-develop type of team and could have interest in Chychrun as a long-term piece, even if he isn’t ready to step into a top four role right away.

Boston: With Zdeno Chara starting to show his age and several blueliners that are better suited as bottom pairing options than top four players, there is a definite need for an impact defenseman and Trouba would arguably slot in as their number one option of the short and long-term.  In the short-term, he could play alongside Chara, giving the 39 year old a mobile partner that could help take some of the pressure off of him.

Aside from Torey Krug, the Bruins don’t have the young left shooting defender that the Jets have been looking for.  Boston just committed to Krug on a long-term deal this summer and with a cap hit of $5.25MM, he may be too pricey to fit into Winnipeg’s budget moving forward.  That said, a power play pairing of Krug along with Dustin Byfuglien could be among the best in the league in a hurry.

Colorado: While the Avalanche haven’t been known for their defensive prowess in recent years, the current right side of their back end is a strength, anchored by Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie who are signed through 2023 and 2020 respectively.  On the surface, this would appear to present Trouba with the same issue he faces in Winnipeg (wanting to play top four on his natural side) unless one of Johnson or Barrie were willing to move to their off-side.

Colorado also doesn’t have a young impact NHL-ready left shot defender readily available either.  Their lefties on the blueline currently consist of a veteran (Francois Beauchemin) and a couple of recent castaways from other teams (Fedor Tyutin and Eric Gelinas).  Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras are two prospects who have some upside that could interest Winnipeg but neither would be ready to play a key role right away.

Detroit: The Red Wings have never really replaced Nicklas Lidstrom since his retirement in 2012 and have been rumored to have interest in pretty much any top four blueliner that has been available since then.  Mike Green is Detroit’s top right-shot option so Trouba, a Michigan native, would definitely be able to step into a big role immediately.  Continued knee problems for Niklas Kronwall, even though he’s a lefty, may very well be another factor in their interest.

Detroit doesn’t really have a young, impact left-shooting rearguard to move, however.  Kronwall and Danny DeKeyser (who is signed through 2022) are their top options while Brendan Smith, who’s next in line, is a pending UFA.  Xavier Ouellet has long been viewed as a youngster with NHL potential but he isn’t advanced enough in his development to be a key piece involved in any deal for Trouba.

New York: Their top right handed defensemen are veterans Kevin Klein and Dan Girardi while they are lacking in quality prospects as well which makes them a team that could very much use Trouba.  However, they’re already spending over $22MM on their back end and adding another expected sizable salary in Trouba would put them amongst the top spenders in the league at that position and likely force them to move one of their better forwards to make room.

Like many of the other teams that McKenzie singled out, the Rangers don’t really have the young left hander on the blueline to part with.  Brady Skjei is a former first rounder with some upside but has all of 13 NHL games under his belt and isn’t ready to play a key role in the NHL just yet.  New York does, however, have some young forwards that could potentially move if Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff wants to expand his options.

On top of the above squads, McKenzie highlighted several other teams that have shown interest between the offseason and today, the Kings, Lightning, Maple Leafs, Panthers, and Penguins.

Trouba has until December 1st to sign a contract or else he would be deemed ineligible for the remainder of the season.  At this time, that seems to be the firm deadline towards getting something done unless Trouba decides to rescind his trade request and re-sign with Winnipeg which doesn’t seem to be a likely option at this point in time.

Rangers Sign And Waive Justin Fontaine

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The New York Rangers have placed right winger Justin Fontaine on waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link).  Accordingly, it would appear that the Rangers have signed him to a contract, although that has yet to be announced by the team.

Fontaine has spent the last three seasons with Minnesota.  Last year, he had five goals and 11 assists in 60 games but is only two years removed from a 31 point campaign.  In his career, he has played in 197 games, all with the Wild, scoring 27 goals while adding 41 assists.

Despite that, the 28 year old has bounced around this offseason.  He secured a tryout with Florida in early September but was released.  He then caught on with Dallas on another PTO but was cut again several days later.  Now it appears he has landed a contract but will have to start in the AHL, assuming he makes it through waivers which seems like a reasonable expectation.

At first glance, it would appear that Fontaine is taking the spot originally earmarked for Nathan Gerbe as veteran depth.  The Rangers signed Gerbe back in July but after clearing waivers, he declined to report to the AHL and instead had his contract terminated.  He has since signed with Geneve-Servette of the Swiss NLA.

[Related: Rangers Depth Chart]

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