Sean Avery Placed On Re-Entry Waivers

It's official. Today at noon, the Rangers placed Sean Avery on re-entry waivers, presumably with the intention of him rejoining the team in time to suit up for Thursday's game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Garden if he clears waivers. Teams will have a chance until noon tomorrow to claim Avery for half his salary.

The Return of Page Six Sean?

Larry Brooks of the New York Post is one of several people today who is reporting that The Grate One himself, Sean Avery, will be placed on re-entry waivers tomorrow with the intention of him rejoining the Rangers in time for Thursday's game against Anaheim at MSG. Avery was cut after the preseason in favor of the Rangers keeping Mats Zuccarello, Wojtek Wolski and Erik Christensen on the roster - all of whom have a grand total of 2 assists and no shootout goals combined this season - but it looks as if Rangers management has decided to reinsert the spark plug back into the heart of the team yet again.

And who gets credit for breaking this news in the first place? Well, longtime hockey journalist Boomer Esiason of course (huh?). Earlier in the day, the longtime Rangers fan/ex-NFL quarterback/WFAN talk show host/NFL on CBS analyst, Tweeted, "Little birdie telling me Sean Avery is back! Thank God! Finally some energy! For the NYR." I, like many others I talked with, pretty much dismissed this as wishful thinking on Boomer's part since he's always been a huge Rangers fan, but it appears he was onto something because several other reporters began confirming Boomer's Tweet within the next several hours today. Who would've thought?

Sean Avery will have to clear waivers if he is recalled, which means every other team in the league has a chance to claim him for half of his salary. Most don't seem to think another team will claim him, though, and expect him to clear waivers and be a Broadway Blueshirt once again.

Avery skated in two games for the Connecticut Whale, recording 1 goal and scoring in the shootout last night to propel the Whale to victory.

My feelings on Sean Avery have been well-documented already, so I won't really delve too much deeper into this. Just to recap: I have always been a fan of Sean Avery and feel like John Tortorella never gave him a fair chance. Even on the occasions when Avery did play well for the Rangers Torts would waste little time demoting him in the lineup the first time things went wrong. Furthermore, I think Avery is absolutely an improvement over the other forwards the Rangers have tried on the fourth line this year (Kris Newbury, Erik Christensen, Mats Zuccarello, etc.) and he gives the team an identity and personality that they need. The players clearly love him, as evidenced by Henrik Lundqvist's remarks in the New York Post earlier this week that seemed like a subtle shot at management's decision to cut Avery in the first place, and I'm assuming that the decision to bring Avery back is being led by Glen Sather. Slats has gone on record on more than one occasion about how much he likes Sean and what he brings to the table and he must feel like Avery's energy is what this team needs to get going. I just can't see John Tortorella going to Glen Sather and asking him to bring Avery back so quickly, but maybe I'm wrong.

Either way, this whole situation comes as a huge surprise. I never thought Avery would skate in the NHL this year after he was waived, and I definitely didn't think that if he did it would come with the Rangers. Nearly everybody reported that Sean's career with the Rangers was over and done with after he was waived, but maybe it isn't quite yet.

More on this situation as it develops. There should be more news come tomorrow.

Biron, Wolski, Woywitka in Lineup for Rangers Tonight

News today from the Rangers is that Wojtek Wolski will make his return to the lineup for the first time since Opening Day in Sweden and Marty Biron will make his season debut in Winnipeg tonight against the Jets. Jeff Woywitka will also suit up for tonight after being a healthy scratch Saturday in Edmonton in favor of Brendan Bell.

Wolski's return to the lineup means that Erik Christensen (thankfully) will take a seat in the press box. As much of a disappointment as Wolski has been since being traded to the Rangers last season, there's really no way he can provide any less than Erik Christensen has so far this season. I expect Wolski will open the game on the fourth line, but he'll probably move around and get some power play time as the game goes on. Wolski, you'll recall, was called out by John Tortorella last week when Torts took a subtle shot at Wolski by insinuating he was taking his sweet time recovering from a groin injury that has lingered ever since the preseason.

Evidently, the Rangers weren't all that impressed by Brendan Bell on Saturday because Jeff Woywitka is back in after a one game absence. Ideally, neither of these guys should be suiting up regularly for the Rangers (or any other NHL team for that matter), but the Rangers really don't have any choice with Marc Staal still suffering from concussion symptoms and Michael Sauer's right shoulder still an issue.

Tonight's game will break a string of 37 consecutive games that Henrik Lundqvist has started for the Rangers (including the postseason) dating back to last season. The decision to start Biron, apparently, has nothing to do with Henrik Lundqvist leaving Saturday's game against Edmonton with cramps in his foot from the new skates he's been wearing this year. Lundqvist has insisted he's fine and he practiced fully, so I have no reason to believe this is a lingering thing. Fact is, Biron was likely to start at some point on this road trip since John Tortorella likely wants to get him into a game early in the season so he can get some work in.

More later from Winnipeg as game time draws near...

Rangers Defeat Flames 3-2 in Overtime

The Rangers won a thrilling game by the score of 3-2 in overtime tonight after Ryan McDonagh buried the game-winner top-shelf with just 0.5 seconds remaining in the game.

Much more reaction to come later, but I will say this - Ryan McDonagh continues to impress offensively, the first line continued to be strong, Brandon Dubinsky had his best game of the season and Henrik Lundqvist, as usual, was outstanding.

McDonagh had 26:25 TOI tonight for a total of 36 shifts and now has 2 goals and 1 assist in his last two games.

Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves on the night and now has a .973 save percentage in his last two games.

The Rangers other two goals came from Marian Gaborik (the team's first power play goal of the season) and Brandon Prust (the team's first short-handed goal of the season).

Henrik Lundqvist said the victory hat tonight goes to...Brandon Prust "for being the homeboy."

Rangers vs. Canucks Pregame Notes, Marc Staal Update Coming Tomorrow?

Some pregame notes for the Rangers-Canucks game tonight from Vancouver (10 p.m. EST on MSG Network), courtesy of Steve Zipay of Newsday.


Rangers lines:

Stepan-Richards-Gaborik
Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
Fedotenko-Boyle-Prust
Rupp-Newbury-Christensen

Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto-Tim Erixon
Jeff Woywitka-Steve Eminger

Henrik Lundqvist

Scratches: Wolski (Groin), Sauer (Shoulder)


Canucks lines:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Hodgson-Kesler-Higgins
Samuelsson-Malhotra-Hansen
Volpatti-Lapierre-Weise

Roberto Luongo

- The Canucks will honor Rick Rypien prior to tonight's game, who committed suicide this past August at the age of 27. Rypien played in 119 games with the Canucks over six seasons.

- Wojtek Wolski and Michael Sauer are both out as they continue to try and comeback from their injuries. It sounds like Sauer may miss most of the games on this Canada trip, if not all of them. Brendan Bell was obviously recalled because the Rangers aren't very confident in Sauer suiting up within the next few days.

- Dale Weise is in the lineup and will suit up against his former team for the first time. Weise, of course, was lost on waivers a few weeks ago to the Canucks.

- Joe Micheletti said on the Rangers pregame show on MSG that the Rangers will likely give an official update tomorrow on Marc Staal's recovery from his concussion. Hold your breath, Rangers fans. I'm assuming we're either going to get very good news or not so good news, unless Staal pulls a Sidney Crosby and has a press conference to announce that nothing has changed in his recovery.

Mats Zuccarello Sent To Connecticut Whale, Brendan Bell and Kris Newbury Recalled

The Rangers announced after their loss to the Islanders on Saturday that they have sent down Mats Zuccarello to the AHL and recalled center Kris Newbury to take his place on the roster. On Sunday, the team also announced that they have recalled defenseman Brendan Bell to join them on their road trip through Canada that begins with a game tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks.

Kris Newbury was leading the Connecticut Whale with 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in four games this season, while Bell had recorded an assist in two games with the Whale since he was assigned there after the Rangers got back from Sweden.

Read more below for comments from Mats Zuccarello on being sent down to the Connecticut Whale.

The Good and The Bad: Rangers Fall To Islanders 4-2

It almost seems unfair, doesn't it? After starting the season with back-to-back losses in Sweden we had to wait an entire week before seeing the Rangers play again on Saturday, and now that they finally are back on the ice they lost, yet again, for the third time this season while displaying pretty much the same patterns we saw from them in the first two games in Sweden.

There were some good signs that the Rangers showed on Saturday, but there were also a lot of bad signs, too. Read more to see what went right and what went wrong.