Wojtek Wolski, who reinjured his groin last week against Anaheim, met on Monday with Dr. William Meyers, who diagnosed Wolski with a sports hernia. Wolski is expected to undergo surgery today, which will sideline him for four weeks, though I wouldn't be shocked if he was out a bit longer. The question now becomes, who replaces Wolski on the roster?
Most of the speculation has centered on calling up either Mats Zuccarello, Carl Hagelin or Ryan Bourque. Each one has plus and minuses, but the main factor on who gets promoted should be, who fills the open role best rather than who is the best player.
Zuccarello has played well since getting sent down, but again, he profiles talent-wise as more of a top-six forward, yet the role he would play is a bottom-six or extra forward. That in itself should rule him out, but again, I could see him getting promoted as a reward for his fine play, even though Torts still believes he has work to do in the minors.
Hagelin got off a very strong start in Connecticut, but has leveled off a bit lately. He, like Zuccarello, is more of top-six, possibly third-line player, rather than a fourth-liner or extra winger. In addition, since he only played five games in the playoffs for Connecticut and could use the extra time to really learn and master the Rangers' style of play; he too would be better served remaining in the minors. In addition, to call him up to play 6-8 minutes seems like a waste of time and would retard his learning curve.
Bourque missed some time earlier in the year with a concussion, but returned to action recently, scoring his first goal last week. Bourque is a bit undersized, though, unlike Zucc, he appears to have a bit of grit to his game. That said, I believe he too would benefit from remaining and learning in the minors. The same likely can be said for Jonathan Audy-Marchessault.
So who does that leave? Given the role to be filled, the Rangers would likely be best served by calling up John Mitchell or possibly giving Kris Newbury a chance. Mitchell had a pretty strong preseason and has continued that solid play over to Hartford with nine points in 12 games. Newbury didn’t do much his first stint in NY this year, but as a spare/replacement forward, he can fill that role fairly ably.
The New York Daily News wrote: “The Blueshirts are allowed to fill the three roster spots vacated by the players on IR (Wolski, Marc Staal and Michael Rupp), and have already plugged one by signing Anton Stralman on Saturday.
But since players on IR still count against the team’s cap, the Rangers could place either Wolski or Staal on long-term injury exemption, allowing them to exceed the cap ceiling, or upper limit, of $64.3 million if they choose to add a player whose total compensation does not exceed that of the player on LTI.” Stralman is undergoing medical testing Tuesday, so he will not accompany the team to Ottawa, while no call-ups will occur today.
It makes little sense to put someone on LTIR until the need arises if there is open cap room and the player promoted is making minimal salary, like Newbury or Mitchell. If it’s Zucc, and maybe Hagelin, who is making half of Zucc’s $1.75 million salary, then I would move one, probably Wolski to LTIR.
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