Rangers Pull the Plug on James Reimer's Brief New York Era

The NHL waiver wire is usually just a digital recycling bin for league-minimum contracts, but today it is giving us a masterclass in how fast a panic signing can evaporate.

The New York Rangers are placing 38-year-old goaltender James Reimer on waivers for the purpose of contract termination. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are tossing 27-year-old defenseman Atro Leppanen on the wire to see if anyone feels like claiming a free blueliner.

"Daily Faceoff reported the waiver placements for both Reimer and Leppanen on Saturday."

Reimer’s tenure in New York was basically a cup of coffee that got spilled immediately. The Rangers signed him just last month to a prorated $850,000 deal strictly because Igor Shesterkin and Joonas Korpisalo were dealing with injuries.

He made exactly one start for the Rangers. In that start, he gave up three goals on eight shots against the Los Angeles Kings before getting yanked in the first period.

Getting paid NHL money to face eight shots and immediately put a baseball cap back on is the kind of elite finesse most of us can only dream of, but it does not exactly help a hockey team win games.

Over in Edmonton, Leppanen is just trying to get back on the ice. He started the year on the injured list after leading the AHL's Bakersfield Condors in defensive scoring last season with 38 points in 53 games.

For anyone eyeing Metropolitan Division futures or nightly moneylines, the real takeaway here is that Korpisalo is healthy enough to return. The Rangers are sitting at 9-7-1 and desperately need their actual rotation back to stop the bleeding.

If Leppanen clears, he heads back to the minors to shake off the rust. As for New York, they head into a matchup against the Seattle Kraken with a clean crease and one less emergency veteran on the payroll.