According to Andrew Gross the Rangers have made 11 more cuts, trimming the roster to 27.
To Hartford:
G: Chad Johnson
D: Wade Redden
F: Dane Byers, Evgeny Grachev, Kris Newbury, Dale Weise, Jeremy Williams, Mats ZuccarelloReleased from tryouts:
D: Garnet Exelby, Brandon Manning, Alexei SemenovStill on Rangers’ roster:
G: Martin Biron, Henrik Lundqvist
D: Michael Del Zotto, Steve Eminger, Matt Gilroy, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Michal Rozsival, Michael Sauer, Marc Staal, Pavel Valentenko
F: Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Derek Boogaard, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Erik Christensen, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Ruslan Fedotenko, Alex Frolov, Marian Gaborik, Tim Kennedy, Vinny Prospal, Brandon Prust, Derek Stepan, Todd White
John Tortorella had said before yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings that cuts were coming, and they came today. Unlike the first volley of cuts, this list contains a few serious surprises.
Obviously Wade Redden wasn’t one of those surprises, as we reported his waiver status yesterday here. But to see Evgeny Grachev and Mats Zuccarello removed so soon is surprising. Although neither looked like they had a chance at cracking this year’s opening night roster, I thought that they would get a longer look.
The biggest surprises, however, came from the tryout list. If you are a player brought in on a tryout then you are playing for a contract, you don’t have one coming into camp. And if you get cut then you and the team part ways without any ties.
Semenov, who made the team out of camp last year and was offered a contract (which he had to deny because his wife thought he could get more elsewhere), played pretty well in his two pre-season games, and figured to fight for a seventh defenseman spot.
Exelby, who was supposed to bring serious ‘jam’ to this year’s defensive corps (if he made the team), was unimpressive and subsequently cut.
Obviously the real cuts start from this point forward. Make sure to visit Blueshirt Banter for more Rangers news and analysis.