The New York Rangers have placed three players on waivers. If they go unclaimed, all three will most likely end up in the American Hockey League with Hartford.
Talyn Boyko, the Rangers’ goaltender, has also been assigned to Hartford.
Harpur may be the most well-known — and probably most surprising — of the players placed on waivers. The 29-year-old defenseman has spent parts of seven seasons in the NHL and appeared in 42 games for New York in 2022-23, scoring six points (one goal, five assists) and averaging 14:04 of ice time in a bottom-pair role after signing as a free agency in October 2022.
Harpur missed nearly all of last season with a pectoral muscle ailment that necessitated surgery, appearing in only seven games for Hartford. The Rangers called him up from Hartford during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he did not play.
He dressed for one of the Rangers’ three preseason games, playing 20:33 and being minus-1 in a 6-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
This decision is somewhat surprising given that the Rangers are determining how to address the vacancy on their defensive corps caused by Ryan Lindgren’s lower-body injury versus the Islanders. Harpur has NHL experience and, like Lindgren, shoots to the left.
This leaves lefty Connor Mackey and right-handers Chad Ruhwedel and Victor Mancini as the top contenders in camp.
Harpur has 21 points (two goals, 19 assists) from 198 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators, and Rangers.
Rangers place Harpur, Leschyshyn, Belzile on waivers
Leschyshyn, the son of former NHL defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, appeared in one game for the Rangers last season, logging 6:28 of ice time against the St. Louis Blues on January 11, 2024. That was one year to the day after the Rangers claimed him off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights, who had drafted him in the second round (No. 62) in the 2017 NHL Draft. He spent the rest of the season with Hartford, scoring 19 points (eight goals and 11 assists) in 47 games. He also led the Wolf Pack in Calder Cup Playoff goals, scoring five in ten games.
The 25-year-old was scoreless in two preseason games for the Rangers, averaging 10:55 of ice time and going minus-3; he did not dress for Thursday’s 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden.
He has six points (two goals, four assists) in 77 NHL games with Vegas and New York, with all of them coming in 2021-22, his debut NHL season, when he played 41 games for the Golden Knights.
Belzile, an undrafted free agent who spent three seasons splitting time between the Montreal Canadiens and their AHL club in Laval, Quebec, before signing with the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, 2023, led Hartford in scoring last season with 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists) in 61 games. He scored three points (one goal and two assists) in ten playoff games.
The 33-year-old scored the game-winning goal in the Rangers’ preseason opener, a 3-2 away victory over the Bruins on Sunday.
Belzile exemplifies the power of perseverance; he spent his ninth season in the lower levels before making his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 2020-21. In 2022-23, he played 31 of his 44 NHL games and scored 14 points (six goals, eight assists).
Boyko, the Rangers’ fourth-round pick (No. 112) in the 2021 draft, went pro last year and played the 2023-24 season with Cincinnati of the ECHL, going 13-9-1 with a 3.42 goals-against average and a save percentage of.888.
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