Rangers Waive Four Players Including Vaakanainen, Parssinen

The New York Rangers have begun to make cuts with an eye towards their opening night roster, placing four players on waivers with intention to assign them to the Hartford Wolf Pack: Dennis Cholowski, Justin Dowling, Jusso Parssinen, and Urho Vaakanainen.

Neither Justin Dowling or Dennis Cholowski come as much of a surprise. Cholowski has been a fringe NHL/AHL player for practically his entire career and was signed to serve as depth at the defense position in Hartford. Dowling was signed ahead of last year for a similar reason at the forward position. While Dowling appeared in two games with the Rangers last season, he is mainly here to be a veteran presence for the Wolf Pack.

As for Parssinen and Vaakanainen, they both had a chance to make the team as an extra skater, but neither did much to impress in the first game of the preseason. Parssinen has had opportunities with the Rangers in the past and it does not appear, especially under this current coaching regime, that they have much interest in him at this point.

The same goes for Vaakanainen. While some suspected that he could remain on the roster as the team's seventh defenseman this season, the Rangers not only have guys like Matthew Robertson, Scott Morrow, and Vincent Iorio ahead of him in the depth charts, but could also be anticipating Alberts Smits making the team out of camp. We'll know more about that as Smits makes his Broadway (preseason) debut with the Rangers tonight at Madison Square Garden vs. the New York Islanders.

Assuming they all clear waivers, these players will play key roles this season with the to the Wolf Pack. We'll have more information on that tomorrow afternoon, as well as news of additional players placed on waivers following their second preseason game.