Goal Line Report
What Does It All Mean?
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/03/09 at 02:12 PM ET
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As I mentioned to you folks in a blog yesterday, the New York Rangers placed backup goaltender Stephen Valiquette on waivers and at the same time, claimed Erik Christensen off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks.
To be honest with you, I am not sure what to make all of this. On one hand, the Valiquette move makes a lot of sense. He was clearly struggling (2-3, 3.74 GAA, .852 SV%), allowing soft goals and not keeping his team in games, all priorities for an NHL goaltender.
If Valley clears waivers and gets sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack, he will surely some significant playing time and be given a chance to get his game back in order in hopes of being sent back up to the big leagues. He’s had success in the AHL before so there is reason to believe that he will show the same professionalism and success at that level again.
The Christensen move, on the other hand, is a bit perplexing. He had some success with the Penguins a few seasons ago. Other than that, he’s mostly been a third/fourth-line player and has not produced much.
Both Rick Carpiniello of The Journal News and Andrew Gross of The Record say that the move was made because enforcer Donald Brashear is hurt again. If that’s the case, then themove makes sense but other than that, I’m not sure how Christensen can help the Blueshirts much.
What do you folks think of the moves? Do you think Chad Johnson is ready to be an NHL backup? Do you think Christensen can help? Let’s hear your thoughts!
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: chad+johnson,
erik+christensen,
new+york+rangers,
stephen+valiquette
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About Goal Line Report
Patrick has a tremendous passion for hockey. Besides covering the Rangers and the NHL for Kukla's Korner, you can also find Patrick's work over at Sportsnet.ca, The Red Light District Hockey Blog, NHL Home Ice, and Liam Maguire's Ultimate Hockey web site.
Prior to writing for the above mentioned outlets, you could find Patrick's musings at hockey web sites/outlets such as TheHockeyNews.com, TheFourthPeriod.com, Spector's Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com and many more.
For questions, comments and hip checks, feel free to e-mail Patrick at patrickhoffman3530@gmail.com.