Rangers Claim Roman Hamrlik; Staal Out Indefinitely

While we continue to wait for an official update from the Rangers on Marc Staal's eye injury, which will reportedly come later today, the team added some depth to their blueline today by claiming defenseman Roman Hamrlik off waivers from the Washington Capitals. Hamrlik, 38, has skated in four games with the Caps this season while registering one assist and two penalty minutes. Hamrlik is owed $3.5 million this season before becoming a free agent this July.

Before everybody panics, Katie Strang of ESPN Tweeted that the Rangers were talking about placing a claim for Roman Hamrlik even before Staal's injury last night. I really don't think this move is indicative at all of any diagnosis on Marc Staal's eye injury, so jumping to conclusions that one is tied to the other just seems silly to me. If the Rangers really were talking about claiming Hamrlik prior to last night's game, it's entirely possible they may have decided to just play it safe by claiming Hamrlik late last night without knowing anything definite on Staal's status at the time. I think the Rangers might have simply viewed Hamrlik as a possible upgrade over Stu Bickel, Steve Eminger and Matt Gilroy as a sixth defenseman, and that need only escalated after Staal left last night with the eye injury.

Meanwhile, even though the Rangers have yet to release an official update on Marc Staal just yet, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet Tweeted earlier today that "early indications [are] his eye injury isn't career threatening. Out indefinitely." Now, "out indefinitely" is a relatively vague label that can mean anything from two days to the rest of the season, so it's hard to read too much into what this means just yet. Some good news to come out of yesterday, though, was that Marc Staal reportedly was not taken to the hospital following the injury. Slow motion replays also showed that Staal seemed to be tracking the puck as it was coming towards his face and it looked like the puck caught him right above the eye around the eyebrow.

More to come later once the Rangers release an official update. Thoughts and prayers are definitely with Marc Staal as we continue to hope for the best.