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Asham & Biron Placed on Waivers. Update: Talbot to be Promoted, Nash on IR

October 14, 2013, 12:36 PM ET [260 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers have placed Aarom Asham and Martin Biron on waivers.

Both Asham and Biron are in the final year of their contracts, Asham with a cap hit of $1 million and Biron at $1.3 million. If they pass through waivers and are sent down, Asham would count $75K and Biron $375K against the cap.

The Biron move does not surprise me at all. From the Rangers flirtation with Johan Hedberg this training camp to the viewpoint that Cam Talbot might be able to fill a similar role behind Henrik Lundqvist, Biron was a marked man. When you throw in his poor relief performance against San Jose and two brutal goals against St. Louis, then add in the fact that Talbot would run only $562k against the cap, saving the Rangers $362.5k, this is a move you could see coming. The one downside is that Biron was good in the locker room and a nice mentor for Hank, so it's a further message that is being sent to the squad of shape up or someone else could be next. Talbot is 2-0-1 with a 2.54 goals against average and .918 save percentage at Hartford. One name thrown out there in the blog comments was Ilya Bryzgalov, who signed a deal in the ECHL recently. He would be an experienced backup, the only questions are: would a league minimal deal be sufficient for him and how much more of a circus would having him around be given the big top atmosphere already with this team? (Update: Per Bob McKenzie, Talbot to be promoted)

Asham surprises me. I thought he had played well enough when given the shot and along with Derek Dorsett, he is the physical, agitative component in the Rangers' lineup. Given how bad Dorsett was the other night against the Blues, keeping Asham up would give them an option if they decide to sit Dorsett. But I guess the ability to save 900k and determination by AV that he doesn't fit the style they are trying to play sealed his fate for the second time as he passed through waivers once in July.

We know who likely replaces Biron. For Asham, it may be Darroll Powe, who could help the PK and on faceoffs. It could be JT Miller, Danny Kristo or Chris Kreider. If Nash is out Wednesday, as expected, and there is still the shot he goes on IR, the Rangers could decide to call up both Miller and Kreider. (Update: Nash was placed on IR on Monday afternoon).

If so, the lines could be:

Richards-Brassard-Callahan
Miller-Stepan-Kreider
Pouliot-Boyle-MZA
Pyatt-Moore-Dorsett
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