Josh Jooris Claimed On Waivers By Arizona Coyotes
For the second year in a row, the Rangers have waived a veteran center in December and lost him to a Western Conference team.
In a strange twist of fate, the Rangers' recent rash of injuries has resulted in the New York losing another healthy body. With recent call up's Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen playing well in limited minutes, and the team's injured players starting to get healthy again, decision time was coming for Jeff Gorton. Yesterday, he elected to continue the youth movement he committed to earlier in the offseason by waiving 26 year old center Josh Jooris after only twelve games. Today, Josh Jooris has found himself a new team, as the Arizona Coyotes decided to add him to their roster:
Josh Jooris has been claimed off waivers by the #Coyotes. #NYR
— Sean Hartnett (@HartnettHockey) December 11, 2016
When initially signed to a one year, two-way deal over the summer, Jooris was seen as an under the radar improvement for the Rangers. Despite his solid play in limited minutes, the team decided that keeping their prospects such as Hrivik and Jensen on the roster was the better decision as opposed to waiving them and possibly losing them for nothing.
While that may have been an easy decision for Jeff Gorton to make, there will be more challenges ahead. With Matt Puempel, Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich, still all out of action, the time will eventually come when they get healthy again, and the team will need to evaluate who to keep in the big leagues and who to send back down to Hartford. But for now, the Josh Jooris era in New York is over.
Is a player claimed "on waivers" or "off waivers"?
| On Waivers | 168 |
| Off Waivers | 668 |
