Weekes Put on IR; Valiquette Recalled
 

as per Sam's Blog: http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/

Like he said, it doesn't mean much because Lundqvist will be shouldering the entire game load for the rest of the foreseeable future.

Have to believe Valiquette won't have to pass through waivers as this would probably be termed an emergency injury situation

Valiquette actually played decent in the last few games before the lockout. While I hope he doesn't have to play, I would actually have more confidence in him then Weekes.

Who tends goal for HFD tonight? Has Holt been called up for the 'Pack?

Alex Westlund or whatever his name is. He was backing up Valiquette the other night.

Yeah, we'll get a look at Westlund.

Looking at the AHL site under transactions, no goalie has yet been recalled by Hartford, but yesterday the Pack recalled Zdenek Bahensky. I don't know if that was reported yet or not.

I say play Valiquette Sunday

I'm hoping to see Henke on sunday because i'll be at the game :D

I wonder what this will do to the Wolfpack record, morale, etc.. it may tell a lot about the kids' personality to see how they play through having no familiar goalies, when they are so close to making it to the playoffs, etc.

CBA mumbo jumbo-emergency injury exemption

I'm not familiar with the situation and I believe I heard that Montya was out with a minor injury for a week or so.

If he wasnt injured (if he even is), would he have been recalled for Valiquette?

I don't think they would have brought Montoya up if he wasn't injured. The Rangers want him to get as much experience on the ice down in Hartford as possible. With the way the Rangers have been starting Lundqvist just about every game in the past month or so, it would not benefit Montoya to sit on the bench and not get any ice time. Plus the Pack need him for their playoff push right now as well. If he was going to start a game or two while Weekes was on the IR I would be all for bringing him up, but I really don't think Renney would do that.

The Pack's game tonight has been postponed. With Montoya scheduled to resume practicing yesterday, and their next game not for a couple days now, I expect he'll carry the load for the Pack while Valiquette backs up Henrik.

Me2, I dont want to sit behind Stephen Valiquette

ONLY and ONLY if Montoya is deemed not ready for back-up duty next season do I see Valiquette getting that spot... better to have a servicable guy that makes $500K on the bench instead of a guy who makes $2+ million with a five-hole the size of the ozone hole...

Yeah I actually will be there on Sunday too and wouldnt mind seeing what Valiquette has.

He has nothing, you're not missing much.

Weekes probably went on IR from the sores he got on his ass from sitting on the bench for the last month.

Who cares? There's a reason why Valiquette has played less than 10 games in the NHL in his whole professional career (a grand total of 3 of them were in this decade), not to mention that he's never played more than 35 games in the AHL in a season. Or do you think everyone has been completely wrong about him since he was drafted in the 8th round (and never signed) back in 1996?

He may be having a "stellar" year in the AHL, but he's not a prospect and he's not a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered. He's a career minor leaguer--not even a starter--who's going to sit on the bench during games and collect his NHL salary and meal money for the next 7-10 days. If he sees a minute of playing time, it won't matter how well he plays, the Rangers' season will be in serious jeopardy, if not completely over.

Same here. I might start Valiquette against the Flyers. I know they are not a gimme anymore and they are playing alot harder now, but I figure they will want Henke in there against Havlat and on national TV and everything. And since I'm going to be there, I am biased ;)

Valiquette will never play as a regular for the Rangers, he's the same as LaBarbera, the same as Hirsch. We've all been wowed by guys who put up great numbers in the AHL, it doesn't mean anything at the NHL level, where the difference between the great goalies and the less than average is usually only about 1 goal a game.

so i'm confused :dunno:

wouldn't Valiquette have to go through re-entry waivers? or did he already? sorry if this was already answered

Normally he would have had to, but there is an emergency injury exception they used because Weekes is on the IR.

Just before the lockout, my husband and I went to Philly to see the Rangers, and Valiquette played. If I recall correctly, he kicked a** for the first two periods, and all the Flyers fans around us were asking "Who is this guy?!" I think the Rangers ended up losing that game but I don't remember if it was because of a bad goal on his part or not.

I went to Hartford recently to catch a Pack game, and was interested to see they started Valiquette instead of Montoya. Maybe Montoya was hurt with this knee injury at the time? Anyway, he started out a little shaky but once he got into his groove he was really "on". However... that was the AHL (as someone else pointed out) and the NHL is a different story. I hope we don't have to find out, honestly... I want to see a healthy Henrik for the rest of the season (however long that may be).