The Recent York Rangers are in the midst of a disastrous season. They traded captain Jacob Trouba and former second-overall pick Kaapo Kakko and are in second-to-last place within the Metropolitan Division. On Monday, they made their first addition of the season. The Rangers picked up forward Arthur Kaliyev from waivers from the Los Angeles Kings, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Kaliyev has not played a game within the National Hockey League this season after suffering an injury in training camp. He spent two weeks on a rehab project within the American Hockey League before being placed on waivers. He’s 23 years old with 35 goals in 188 games and was a second-round pick in 2019. Kaliyev shall be a restricted free agent after this season, so the Rangers could keep him long-term.
The Rangers need young offensive players to spark their aging core. Only a few of their players reside as much as expectations, especially Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. While Kaliyev has not been a dominating player within the league, he can shake things up in a brand new role in Recent York.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette should slot Kaliyev into a task that puts him on the ice a ton. There are usually not many great young players on this team either and he might be the missing piece of their prospect pipeline.
The Rangers beat out other teams for Arthur Kaliyev
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The waiver system within the National Hockey League is never used for teams so as to add NHL-caliber players mid-season. But a player as young as Kaliyev drew interest from teams across the playoff bubble, especially within the weak Eastern Conference. The Ottawa Senators showed interest and that might have been an enormous addition to the club.
The NHL waiver order is set by the inverse order of the standings by this point within the season. While the Rangers are near the underside, they needed multiple teams to pass up on Kaliyev to land him. Those teams are the Seattle Kraken, Recent York Islanders, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, and Chicago Blackhawks.
Just like every waiver claim, this can be a low-risk, high-reward addition for the Rangers. Kaliyev might be the goal-scorer that the Kings thought they were drafting back in 2019. But when he continues to struggle, Recent York could put him back on waivers in a short time. But considering their place within the standings, he should get a protracted have a look at the professional level.
