Today came round 3 of New Jersey’s roster cuts…and to me there were a couple of surprises on the list. A total of 12 players were officially cut, with 8 of them going on the waiver wire. Here’s a breakdown:
Assigned to Albany: Keith Kinkaid, Alexander Urbom, Matt Taormina
Released from tryout: Steve Bernier (he was offered a 2 way deal to start the season here, but turned it down)
On waivers: Mark Fraser, Matthew Corrente, Peter Harrold, Jay Leach, Rod Pelley, Stephane Veilleux, Vladimir Zharkov, Tim Sestito
I’m a little surprised to see Fraser and Pelley on the list, considering they had spent the majority of last year in New Jersey. But with the strong play from first round pick Adam Larsson and both Eric Boulton and Cam Janssen playing solid during the preseason schedule, I guess they have become expendable. Question is do both come to Albany or is it just to see if any other team will pick them up? Corrente and Taormina are both coming off injury shortened seasons, it wasn’t too much of a surprise there. The rest were more or less ticketed to come down here anyway, giving Albany a good veteran group, something sorely missed last year due to the injury/callup situation.
Depending on who eventually ends up down here, the next few days will be interesting to watch, to see who among the first round of cuts stays and who ends up going down to an ECHL team (there is no set affiliation, I believe the plan is to spread it out among a number of teams).
Thoughts Inside The Box 