Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said early Friday afternoon that forward Emerson Etem would be assigned at some point Friday to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack for conditioning.
Vigneault’s announcement followed a vague response from the Rangers earlier about Etem’s absence from practice in Greenburgh that a “transaction” should be expected later in the day.
The reason seems to be that, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, a few NHL teams have been talking to the Rangers about trying to acquire Etem, 23 – a Long Beach, Calif., product originally drafted 29th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in 2010 – via trade.