Libor Hajek, Linus Hogberg Clear Waivers
Feb 10: Both players have cleared waivers. That means Hajek can be sent to the minor leagues, and Hogberg is free to pursue other opportunities overseas.
Feb 9: As we await the official announcement of Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers, the team has started clearing some space. Libor Hajek has been placed on waivers, according to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets. The Philadelphia Flyers have also placed Linus Hogberg on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination.
Hajek, 25, came into the Rangers organization with high hopes as part of the return for Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller, but never lived up to expectations. The 2016 second-round pick has 110 games played over parts of five seasons (all with New York), and has produced just 12 points, averaging fewer than 15 minutes in his appearances.
While he was never supposed to be a big offensive threat, the 6’2″ defenseman hasn’t been effective in his own end, either, At this point, he was a potential candidate to go unqualified in the summer. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll pass through, though, as teams often give high draft picks (especially defensemen) extra chances to prove their worth at the NHL level. On a one-year, $800K contract, it might be worthwhile for a rebuilding club.
Hogberg, meanwhile, played just five games for the Flyers last season and had been buried in the organizational depth chart this year, sitting in the press box even at the AHL level. The 24-year-old will likely return to Sweden to continue his career overseas after the short stint in North America.
Tarasenko Confirms No Extension Talks With Blues
Hitting the ice today as a member of the New York Rangers, Vladimir Tarasenko was skating beside Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, as many expected. The former St. Louis Blues star spoke with the media, including Mollie Walker of the New York Post after practice, and confirmed what had been reported over the last few months:
The good vibes were clear when Panarin explained how happy he was to have a long-time friend join the team. Tarasenko, of course, is only signed through the end of this season at the moment. A pending unrestricted free agent, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers will offer him the extension that never came in St. Louis.
New York Rangers Acquire Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola
The trade deadline is still a few weeks away, but the New York Rangers aren’t waiting around. Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola have been acquired from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a conditional 2023 first-round pick, a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick, Sammy Blais, and Hunter Skinner. The Blues will retain 50% of Tarasenko’s contract, which expires at the end of the season.
The first-round selection will be the later of the two the Rangers currently have (NYR and DAL). Since the Dallas pick is also top-10 protected from the Nils Lundkvist trade, if it moves to 2024, the Blues will receive the later of the two next year. The fourth will become a third-round pick if the Rangers make the playoffs this season.
It’s a significant return for the Blues, but likely still one that fans will be disappointed with. Tarasenko has been a favorite in St. Louis for more than a decade, and was a key part of the franchise’s first (and only) Stanley Cup championship in 2019. The 31-year-old sniper has eclipsed the 30-goal mark in six different seasons, including last year when he came back from multiple shoulder injuries to post 34 goals and 82 points in 75 games.
This year hasn’t gone quite as well, with just ten tallies and 29 points in 38 games for the big Russian, but he is still one of the most feared shooters in the league and should fit right in next to good friend Artemi Panarin in New York. The Rangers had been linked to other players like Patrick Kane and Timo Meier to fill that spot but will end up with a player who not so long ago requested a trade out of St. Louis.
Tarasenko needed to waive his no-trade clause for this to happen, but that never seemed like much of an issue for a contending, big market team like New York. He’ll now get to showcase his skills down the stretch and try to land another huge contract on the open market. His current eight-year, $60MM deal will expire in a few months, and while the Rangers could potentially extend him, they have some other negotiations on the horizon. This could end up being a pure rental, if Tarasenko is demanding anything close to the $7.5MM cap hit he currently carries.
Not to be overlooked in this trade is Mikkola, who had drummed up his own interest as the deadline approached. The 26-year-old defenseman is a big, physical presence that can handle tough minutes against good players, even if he isn’t going to contribute offensively. The Rangers already have enough defenders who can move the puck – adding a player like Mikkola will give them some added depth for what they hope is a long playoff run.
Blais heads back to St. Louis after a short unsuccessful stint in New York. The 26-year-old was part of the Pavel Buchnevich trade in the summer of 2021, and was expected to be a heart-and-soul bottom sixer for years to come. Instead, he suffered an early injury that limited him to just 14 games in 2021-22 and has never been able to recapture the upside he showed in St. Louis. Through 54 games for New York, Blais failed to score even a single goal, recording nine points along the way.
Skinner, 21, has split this season between the ECHL and AHL, and is likely only included to balance out the contracts. The fourth-round pick has two points in eight games for the Hartford Wolf Pack, and is far from adding any value at the NHL level.
Adding a first-round pick in this year’s draft is a big addition for St. Louis though, especially for a player who they had no real chance of re-signing. A split was coming one way or the other with Tarasenko, and now the Blues have some extra ammunition to use in the offseason. As we discussed recently in the St. Louis deadline primer, general manager Doug Armstrong has followed this playbook before. Sell expiring veteran contract for picks, flip picks into valuable NHL talent at the draft. We’ll have to see if that’s what is in store this time, but it’s no rebuild in St. Louis. With Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou locked in long-term, the team will build around a new core and see if they can get back to the playoffs next season.
It also isn’t the end of the dealing for Armstrong. The team still has Ryan O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev, among others, to trade at the deadline if necessary. In the span of a few weeks the cupboards in St. Louis could look a lot more full.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to break the news that Tarasenko had been traded.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
New York Rangers Reassign Will Cuylle
Feb 9: Cuylle has now been sent back to the AHL. He played just 7:44 in the team’s win over Vancouver last night.
Feb 5: In addition to the recall of Sammy Blais that was reported yesterday, the Rangers have plucked another forward from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Will Cuylle has been called up to the team’s active roster, having been sent down from the NHL on January 28th as the Rangers prepared for a lengthy break.
Cuylle, 21, made his NHL debut on January 25th, and has played in a total of two NHL games. He didn’t see very many minutes in those two games, averaging around six minutes per night. Accordingly, he didn’t make much of an impact, save for when he registered his first career fight in a bout against Vegas Golden Knights grinder Keegan Kolesar.
At the AHL level, Cuylle has been more effective. Ranked as one of the Rangers’ better prospects since being drafted in the second round in 2020, Cuylle has made his pro debut this season and done decently well. He’s scored 21 points in 42 games, which is just four points off of the team lead. He also leads the Wolf Pack in goals with 14.
Cuylle was a prolific scorer at the OHL level, scoring 80 points in his final junior season serving as captain of the Windsor Spitfires. The Rangers are hopeful that he can become an impactful physical presence with some goal-scoring touch at the NHL level.
The recall of Cuylle and the prior recall of Blais give the Rangers a full 23-man roster. That has some significance, as if the Rangers opted to keep a bare-minimum roster, they could bank more cap space to be able to use at the trade deadline. They currently stand to have over $6MM to work with at the deadline, but that number could be impacted by the Rangers using more cap space to fill a full roster.
Filip Chytil Contract Looms On Horizon
Things just got more difficult for the New York Rangers, argues Larry Brooks of the New York Post, who posits the Dylan Cozens contract will have a serious effect on negotiations with Filip Chytil this offseason. The 23-year-old Chytil has 32 points in 43 games this season and is currently on a five-game goal streak, bringing his total to a career-high 19 on the year.
With the Rangers looking destined for the playoffs and connected to just about every high-profile trade target, they’ll have to remember to leave enough room to extend their young breakout center. New contracts are also due for several others, including K’Andre Miller, who has flashed his own moments of superstar talent this season.
- Speaking of high-profile trade targets, San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier has been connected to the Rangers, and the club is listed in Matt Larkin’s deep dive today for Daily Faceoff as a potential destination. The piece looks at five landing spots and how Meier would fit in, both this season and on a potential extension. There will be endless speculation regarding the winger over the next few weeks as he enters deadline season with plenty of heat.
Rangers Recall Sammy Blais
It’s not too often we see transactions during All-Star weekend but the Rangers made a roster move today. They brought back winger Sammy Blais from his conditioning loan, per the AHL’s transactions log.
It was a successful stint with AHL Hartford for the 26-year-old. He had a two-goal effort last night against Utica and wound up with four goals in five games in his first minor league action since the 2018-19 season. Unfortunately for both Blais and New York, that’s basically the only success that he has had this season as things simply haven’t gone well at the NHL level. He has just five assists in 38 games on the fourth line which is hardly what they were expecting from him when they acquired him from St. Louis as part of the Pavel Buchnevich trade in 2021. He actually hasn’t scored for the Rangers since being acquired as he missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Blais is in the final year of his contract which carries a $1.525MM cap hit; he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer. At this point, a return to New York seems unlikely and he’s a candidate to be moved at the trade deadline as a salary offset if GM Chris Drury is able to make a big splash on the trade front. With his time in the minors going well, it’ll be interesting to see if Blais will be back in the lineup when their schedule resumes on Monday against Calgary in an effort to try to boost his value heading into next month’s trade deadline.
Timo Meier Emerging As Top Target For Rangers
The New York Rangers have their sights set on San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier, according to Frank Servalli of Daily Faceoff. The pending restricted free agent is now New York’s “No. 1 target” says the insider, who also points out how well Sharks general manager Mike Grier knows the Rangers organization from his time as a hockey operations coordinator there.
They won’t be the only time, though. Meier is set to be the hottest deadline chip and currently resides at the top of the TSN Trade Bait Board, with expected interest from the New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes and many others, along with the Rangers.
Rangers Searching For Defensive Depth Upgrade
Although the Rangers gave blueliner Ben Harpur a vote of confidence with a two-year, $1.575MM contract extension earlier this week (a nice outcome for someone who started the year on an AHL tryout), it shouldn’t automatically be construed that he is in the plans for their upcoming playoff push. To that end, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that GM Chris Drury is believed to be looking for an upgrade on Harpur on the third pairing alongside Braden Schneider.
New York has had a trio of defenders in that role this season with largely middling results. Zachary Jones had the first opportunity over the first seven weeks of the year but the team decided he was better served by playing big minutes with AHL Hartford. Libor Hajek continues to be stuck in the undesirable situation of not being deemed good enough to play regularly but is too good to risk losing for nothing on waivers. The end result has once again been frequent healthy scratches.
Harpur has had the bulk of the opportunities lately but hasn’t stood out himself although he at least has provided a bit of consistency defensively. Even so, he has just 14 career playoff games under his belt over his first six NHL seasons and as he’s averaging less than 14 minutes a night, it’s understandable that they’d want someone capable of doing a bit more. All told, those three have combined for three goals and four assists across 51 games so it’s definitely a position that could stand to be improved upon.
The Rangers are one of the few buyers that are poised to have considerable cap flexibility heading into the March 3rd trade deadline with CapFriendly pegging their spending room at just over $6.78MM in full-season salary. Between that and the potential for a trading team to retain salary, that’s more than enough space to make a splash up front as expected and then improve a depth spot or two. And while impact defenders don’t often go at the deadline, moves to shore up defensive depth are quite commonplace.
With more than $67MM in commitments for next season already and a few key young players heading for restricted free agency (headlined by blueliner K’Andre Miller, center Filip Chytil, and winger Alexis Lafreniere), it’s unlikely that Drury would want to add someone signed beyond this season. Fortunately, there should be several left-shot depth defenders on expiring contracts from teams that will be selling. It’s a bit early yet to determine who all those sellers will be but Drury will have multiple teams and players to choose from when the time comes to find an upgrade on Harpur.
Will Cuylle Assigned To AHL
- The Rangers have returned winger Will Cuylle to AHL Hartford, reports Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise since New York is now in their bye week. Cuylle got into two games in his first NHL stint but barely played six minutes per game. The 20-year-old has 13 goals and 20 assists in 39 games with the Wolf Pack and will get some more time down there before potentially being brought back up after the break.
Auston Matthews Out Three Weeks With Knee Sprain
The Toronto Maple Leafs will be missing their best player for the next little while, as Auston Matthews is expected to miss a minimum of three weeks with a knee sprain. The injury was suffered against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. This would also rule Matthews out for the All-Star festivities next week.
There were a number of hard hits delivered by the Rangers earlier this week, though there is no clear answer as to when Matthews sustained the injury. The star center still played nearly 22 minutes in the game, blocking three shots and delivering four shots on net.
In his place, rookie Pontus Holmberg was skating between Calle Jarnkrok and William Nylander, while John Tavares assumes top-line duty. The lack of offensive center depth is a concern for the Maple Leafs, and potentially could become an area of focus at the upcoming trade deadline.
It has been a frustrating season for Matthews, who has missed a handful of games with undisclosed injuries, and isn’t scoring at quite the same pace he is used to. Though he does have 53 points in 47 games, just 25 of those are goals. It would be the first time in his career that he finished with more assists than goals, should that trend continue.
Even more surprising is his lack of even-strength scoring, an area he has dominated throughout his career. In four of Matthews’ six seasons, he has led the league in even-strength goals, including last year when he potted 44 of them. Just 15 tallies this year have come at even strength, with his shooting percentage much lower than his career norm.
Some have speculated that other injuries have disrupted that timing all season, so perhaps Maple Leafs fans will see this time away with a bit of a silver lining. If on his return, Toronto gets the fully-recovered 60-goal superstar that won the Hart Trophy last season, a three-week absence will be a fine price to pay.
In his place at the All-Star game will be Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers.