Urho Vaakanainen logged 21:16 for the Rangers on Monday night. By Tuesday morning New York had put him on waivers.
He was the key piece coming back in the Jacob Trouba trade. That's a fast turn for a return asset.
He got into 34 games in New York last season and finished with six assists.
He's into the second year of a two-year deal at a $1.55 million cap hit. Cheap enough that somebody might bite.
Dennis Cholowski went on the wire beside him, another former first round defenceman. He played 19:36 in that same game.
Justin Dowling got 18:34 and Juuso Parssinen 16:30. All four Rangers waived Tuesday had dressed the night before.
Mike Sullivan played them, then Chris Drury listed them. That's camp arithmetic, not a performance review.
-
A packed NHL waiver wire includes two former first-round picks
The Red Wings led the entire league. William Lagesson, John Leonard, Sheldon Dries, Dominik Shine, Cameron Butler and Jacob Bryson all went.
Four of them dressed Monday in the 1-0 shootout loss at Columbus. Bryson logged 18:55 on the back end.
Leonard led the Griffins with 33 goals and 54 points in 47 games last season. He got 14:13 on Monday.
Shine has been in Grand Rapids for a decade. He got 18 NHL games in 2024-25 and scored three times.
Dries went 14:58 in that same loss before landing on the list Tuesday.
The Islanders added Ethan Bear and goaltender Henrik Tikkanen. Nashville waived Jake Lucchini and Washington moved Ludwig Persson.
Dallas put Brandon Halverson on there too. He dressed Monday without playing a minute of it.
All five players waived on Monday cleared without a claim, including Chicago's Derrick Pouliot.
This group's window closes Wednesday. Thirty-one other clubs get a look at every name on it.
Detroit visits Pittsburgh tonight. The Rangers host the Islanders at the same hour.
So does anybody actually get claimed? Waiver week works like a hiring freeze with the job board still up. Plenty of names, very few phone calls.
Vaakanainen is the one to watch. A former first rounder at that number, fresh off 21 minutes, is exactly what a thin blue line talks itself into.
Should a team claim Urho Vaakanainen off waivers at $1.55 million?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Youth hockey player on the verge of receiving lifetime ban after stick-swinging incident
