But instead of stocking up on canned corn, American cheese, blueberry preserves, and frozen dinners, NHL GMs are placing players on waivers and making room for additions and preparing for subtractions.
Some surprising names on waivers, too, including Gary Roberts, whom teams have interest in. You would think some team would have atleast offered Tampa Bay a late-round pick for him.
Islander Jon Sim is also on waivers. I asked Islanders' writer Bryan, and he made it seem like the Islanders want him taken so they don't have to have him on the roster next year (he has one more year at $1M left). Makes sense. He has 7 points in 5 games, including 3 assists last night, so maybe some team can take him while he's hot.
Miroslav Satan also was put on waivers by the Penguins. Surprising as well, because while he wasn't having a great year but he is only on a one-year deal, and he can contribute as a 4th line player. His whole career, people have been saying he hasn't been living up to his potential. Well, maybe his potential is 50-60 points a year only. (He also was the team's 4th leading scorer... you think they would atleast have packaged him in a deal for a higher-scoring winger?)
Of course, the big news here (and I guess in Calgary and Dallas) is that Sean Avery is back on the Rangers, immediately making my signed #16 jersey relevant again. His last game was on November 30 against Edmonton, where he scored a goal, had 9 shots, and played just over 18 minutes. Then, he made a joke and was suspended 6 games.
Here's who else has been suspended since Avery "was mean." (I probably shouldn't have put that in quotes since I said it, but, well, you know.) ...
Tomas Plekanec suspended 2 games for tripping. Mikhail Grabovski got 3 games for pushing an official during a scrum. Jarrko Ruutu bites someone and gets 2 games. Evgeny Artyukhin received 2 games for a knee-on-knee hit that had an intent to injure. Denis Gauthier gets 5 games for literally attacking Josh Gorges when he skated up to him and leaped into his head. Tyler Kennedy got 1 game for leaving the bench to fight. And this week, Steve Ott received 1 game for an eye gouge, also an intent to injure.
All of these offenses were less serious than a bad joke aimed at Jack Bauer's estranged daughter (Elisha Cuthbert) and a dirty player (Dion Phaneuf). And while Avery was banished from the league, Frans Nielsen returned from being Superman-ed by Mike Mottau (who received a 2 game penalty).
Hey, atleast Ryan Hollweg didn't get suspended by the NHL in that time. (Of course, that bum hasn't played since early January).
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Anyway, didn't mean to get off topic, but tomorrow should be an interesting day. I don't think the Rangers will be doing too much, because of salary cap concerns. They can't be involved in "big splashes" because players like Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Wade Redden are nearly untradeable (because of the length/amount of the contract; poor performance; no-trade clauses). And they did have a productive day today, getting Avery, and putting Aaron Voros and Eric Reitz on waivers.
A couple of players, like Dmitri Kalinin and Nigel Dawes (and yes, even Petr Prucha) have expiring contracts and could be jettisoned for picks or equal roster players, like when Aaron Ward was shipped out for Paul Mara. (I could definitely see it happening in Kalinin's case.)
I do wish that they atleast got a low-round pick for Voros, but maybe that wasn't going to be happening so they put him on waivers, hoping he gets picked up by someone, or atleast he'll be off the books and playing in Hartford.
Then again, maybe Glen Sather only contacted John Davidson in St. Louis and Don Maloney in Phoenix.
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