Through their first 21 games the New York Rangers looked unbeatable, racing out to a 16-3-2 record that was by far the best start in franchise history.
Unfortunately for them, they were never going to continue that pace. Not only because it's impossible for a team to maintain that over 82 games, but also because there were a few flaws being hidden by the consistently stellar play of starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist as the team would get outshot on a nightly basis.
A slump was inevitable, and they currently find themselves in the middle of one. And now they are making a roster move.
The team placed veteran forward Jarret Stoll on waivers on Monday morning after taking a chance on him over the summer, signing him to a one year, $800,000 contract to help their forward depth.
Stoll, a member of the Los Angeles Kings for seven years where he was a part of two Stanley Cup winning teams, saw his time with the team come to an end after he was arrested for allegedly bringing cocaine to a Las Vegas pool party in April. He was facing jail time until the felony charge was dropped down to a couple of misdemeanors, including a sentence of 30 hours of community service.
He has appeared in 29 games for the Rangers this season and mostly struggled, scoring one goal to go with two assists while playing on the fourth line and killing penalties.
It never hurts to upgrade a depth spot, and they can't really do worse than Stoll has been so far this season if they decided to move on from him, but the bigger issue for the Rangers right now is the continued absence of Derek Stepan, sidelined with broken ribs after a hit by Bruins forward Matt Beleskey, and the poor play of some of their defenders, specifically Dan Girardi.
The Rangers have lost eight of their past 10 games and, for the time being, have fallen to third place in the Metropolitan Division behind the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.