Some Additional Considerations…
Vigneault was aggressive about getting his Opening Day Roster trimmed down as quickly as possible. At one point, the Rangers had 25 players left in camp with a week to go before Opening Day/Night and a lot of other NHL camps still had between 30-40 bodies skating around. It was surprising that AV carried a maxed out 23-man roster, but he did it nonetheless.
The final two cuts surprised some people as Jayson Megna and Raphael Diaz were assigned. Etem and defenseman Dylan McIlrath were the direct beneficiaries of the Rangers having hit the 23-man benchmark. McIlrath, like Etem, has had very limited playing time and hasn’t done a lot with it. That could spell good news for Diaz.
Per NYP Larry Broooks (Oct 8, 2015), the Rangers told Diaz and his agent they would revisit his position with the organization at the end of the month. Diaz is an experienced depth defensemen who has expressed interest in a release from his Rangers contract if he is not back in the NHL by November. Glass’ absence makes room to pull Diaz back into the fold. The Rangers would be foolhardy to allow Diaz to walk. He plays a solid defensive game, has some scoring ability and is comfortable on the power play. All of those things make him a valuable trade chip if he is not going to contribute regularly on the ice. A healthy, playoff-tried depth defenseman is hard to come by in the NHL come deadline time. If he’s not playing for the Rangers, perhaps he can yield value in what the team can get for him.
As for Tanner Glass? He cleared waivers today and is headed to Hartford. It was unlikely that any GM out there would have been comfortable assuming his contract. Rangers GM Jeff Gorton now has a little cap room – not much, but some room – with which to work if/when the need to pick up a piece comes to pass.
In the meantime, the Rangers prepare for three games in four nights. They will host the Arizona Coyotes and surging Anthony Duclair on Thursday at MSG, travel to Philly for a Saturday evening tilt against Dave Hakstol’s Flyers and return home Sunday to face Johnny Hockey and the Calgary Flames.
Tanner Glass will be apartment hunting.
