Parssinen Clears Waivers, Rangers Recall Connor Mackey

Twenty-four hours after the New York Rangers put forward Jusso Parssinen on waivers, he has officially cleared and has been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL. In a corresponding move, the Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey.

The reason for Mackey being the call up instead of Scott Morrow has to do with a new update to the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA. Line #30 of a Memorandum of Understanding that was ratified into the CBA states the following:

A Player who has been Loaned to a minor league club, and was not credited with a day pursuant to (h) above for one (1) or more days since the Loan, must actually report to the club and play in one (1) or more games with such minor league club before he is eligible for Recall.

With Parssinen reporting to Hartford, the Rangers clear all but $100,000 of his $1.25 million cap hit which will be considered buried salary.

I wrote towards the end of preseason about the Rangers potentially carrying a 23-man roster and the role waivers played in that. Ironically enough, I suggested Gabe Perreault being included in their opening night roster which would have exposed one of their depth forwards to waivers. Here's what I had to say then about potentially waiving Jusso Parssinen:

With Parssinen, it’s clear the Rangers like him. And it’s clear Drury seems to value him. But in comparison to all the other options, I just don’t see a place for him on this team...From an asset management perspective, I don’t see the Rangers waiving any of those guys for fear that they could get claimed on waivers. Here’s the thing though: Are any of those guys really going to draw attention from other teams on the waiver wire?...

Drury’s seeming affinity for him aside, I’m fairly confident Parssinen would go unclaimed. Realistically, he’s a player that holds some theoretical value, but I get the impression most of the league probably looked at him as a throw-in in the Ryan Lindgren trade.

Despite teams like Vancouver, Philadelphia, Toronto, and even Montreal needing some center depth, none of them appeared to be interested in taking on Jusso Parssinen. Whether that has more to do with his game or his cap hit that comes in just north of a million dollars for the next two seasons remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, this will go down as one of Chris Drury's more confusing bits of business. It made sense to extend him considering no one knew Noah Laba would be NHL ready this season but the two-years and higher cap hit still feels a bit odd.

As for tonight's action in Carolina, the Rangers lineup is still uncertain as both J.T. Miller and Will Borgen have been listed as game time decisions. Igor Shesterkin will get the start in net and K'Andre Miller will get to take on his former team for the first time. Puck drop is 7 p.m. tonight.