The New York Rangers made their much-anticipated roster moves on Friday. Shockingly, Lias Andersson was sent to the Hartford Wolfpack.
The New York Rangers announced their official roster for the start of the 2018-2019 season as David Quinn, along with general manager Jeff Gorton, made a surprising move in sending 2017 first round pick Lias Andersson to the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack.
#NYR Active Roster:
Forwards (13): Buchnevich, Chytil, Fast, Hayes, Howden, Kreider, Lettieri, McLeod, Namestnikov, Spooner, Vesey, Zibanejad, Zuccarello
Defensemen (8): Claesson, DeAngelo, McQuaid, Pionk, Shattenkirk, Skjei, Smith, Staal
Goaltenders (2): Georgiev, Lundqvist pic.twitter.com/s69CYUZxi5
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 28, 2018
The Rangers went with 13 forwards to start the season. Vinni Lettieri made the squad after having a very strong training camp along with center Brett Howden, who the team acquired last season at the trade deadline deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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The team had been rumored to want to go with eight defensemen and those rumors turned out to be true. The team decided to roll with newcomers Fredrik Claesson and Adam McQuaid. Anthony DeAngelo and the return of Brendan Smith were the last of the guys on the bubble to make the roster. Marc Staal, Brady Skjei, and Kevin Shattenkirk and Neal Pionk were locks to make the roster.
Henrik Lundqvist will lead the team out onto the ice when the Rangers welcome the Nashville Predators on Oct. 4 at MSG. His back up will be Alexandar Georgiev who won the backup competition due to a lack of quality goalies in camp. Georgiev was the presumed back-up heading into camp this year and now will have the opportunity to learn from one of the best goalies in the world.
OFFICIAL: #NYR made the following roster changes:
Andersson, Fogarty, Hajek, Lindgren, Lindqvist, Meskanen & O’Gara have been assigned to Hartford.
Bigras, Holland, Mazanec, Schneider & Tokarski have been placed on waivers & will be assigned to HFD should they not be claimed. pic.twitter.com/oDPNFCwhWQ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 28, 2018
Along with Andersson, defenseman Rob O’Gara and six other players were sent to the Wolf Pack. Dustin Tokarski who signed as a free agent in the summer by New York and Marek Mazanec were both placed on waivers along with Peter Holland, Chris Bigras, and Cole Schneider. Should they clear waivers, they will be sent to Hartford.
No statement was made regarding the reason Andersson was sent down, but the presumption is that he would be the first call-up when the team needs a player later on in the season.
