Day: July 5, 2013

Both Arron Asham and Darroll Powe were placed on waivers yesterday, in the hope that a team might claim them and review their respective salaries from the Cap calculation.  At 12pm Eastern today, they remained unclaimed and as such remain on the Summer roster.

Each team is however allowed to exceed by 10 percent the $64.3M cap figure over the off-season, so their status as remaining Rangers has little impact in the short term.  They could still be traded over the Summer, or be added back to the Rangers roster in camp.

It seems the Rangers aren’t the only ones who were willing to overpay for injured wing Ryane Clowe.  The Devils announced today that they have signed the former Rangers to a five year – $24.25M deal pretty right after the 12pm deadline passed.

Clowe will get to see his former team plenty of times, providing he can stay on the ice.  After being acquired by New York, he managed to dress for 12 of 13 regular season games, but just 2 of 12 post season games.  He also struggled to get going for the San Jose Sharks following a shoulder injury that saw him appear in 28 games without registering a goal.

After a one year hiatus from the NHL following the death of his wife, former Ranger draft pick Dominic Moore will return to the team when he began his career.  The Rangers have signed Moore to a 1 year $1M contract, and will likely use him as a fourth line center, and PK specialist.

Moore was originally drafted by the Rangers and made his NHL debut in 2003 with the club, recording three assists in five games.  He followed that up with nine goals and nine assists in a full 82 game following the 2004-05 locked out season, only to be traded to the Nashville Predators for Adam Hall, who in turn sent him to Pittsburgh before the season started.

The Rangers made their second move, adding depth defenseman Aaron Johnson to their roster.  The former Blue Jackets 2001 third pick, joins his eighth NHL franchise, rejoining former team mates Rick Nash, Derek Dorsett and Derrick Brassard, as well as former head coach Scott Arniel.

Johnson has appeared in 291 NHL games, with 17 goals, 41 assists and 227 penalty minutes.  His career high four goals came in 2009-10 when he split time between the Oilers and Flames, while he put up 16 points in his second stint with the Blue Jackets in 2010-11.

New York placed veteran forwards Arron Asham and Darroll Powe on waivers yesterday, in the hopes that someone else will pick them up.  Both are in the final years of their respective contracts, with Powe at $1.06M and Asham and $1M in terms of salary cap.  Neither forward has particularly impressed in a Rangers uniform, although Asham did at least have his moments, including the Game Winner in the 5-0 rout of the Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals.

The moves would give the Rangers an extra $2M in Cap Space they could certainly use, with the decision to retain Brad Richards, along with the resigning of Ryan McDonagh, Carl Hagelin, Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello and Justin Falk, putting pressure on that number.