When the New York Rangers acquired Wojtek Wolski for Michal
Rozsival back in January the word no-brainer was used by anyone and everyone
around as the move brought New York a young player with offensive upside, save
the team cap space and opened up a defensive spot for Ryan McDonagh to play at
this level. Over the course of his 32
games with the Rangers he has amassed only 16 points (5-11) and has been
brilliant in some games and healthy scratched for one as well. The move is still the right one, but the
questions have to start becoming more concrete about just how long Wolski’s
stay in New York will last.
With a cap hit of 3.8 million dollars next season and the
Rangers in need of relief to sign their own restricted free agents and possibly
chase the likes of Brad Richards the team will need to find the money from
somewhere and Wolski could be part of that process. According to Capgeek
the buyout for Wolski this summer would only cost the Rangers 466,667 against
the cap next season and 666,667 which would create over 3.3 million in cap
space for the team this summer which would provide significant breathing room
and options for the organization.
The lure of Wolski’s skill could entice the Rangers to keep
him around, but if he keeps going like he has been where he is scoreless in his
last seven games and providing little to nothing else on the ice then one would
have to think that they would consider cutting bait on him whether it be trying
to deal him or just walking away for pennies and taking the cap space with the
roster spot. It will be up to Wolski to
go back to how he was playing when he was first brought to New York which was a
dangerous offensive game with defensive effort and grinding play along the way
or he will be on his fourth NHL team to start the 2011-12 season.
