Bruins defenseman Wade Redden returned to practice today but said the is not yet ready to return to game action.
He was asked today, by Katie Strang of ESPN NY, about potentially playing against the Rangers and Redden said that he has turned the page on his history with the Rangers.
Redden added that things obviously didn’t go great with the Rangers and that the buyout was the best thing for all parites.
The Bruins twitter feed says that Bruins defensemen Wade Redden, Andrew Ference and Dennis Seidenberg are the only players not taking part in Bruins practice today.
Redden and Ference didn’t play in game seven against the Maple Leafs while Seidenberg was injured early in the game.
Their lines are:
The Rangers practice at 12PM
On January 17th, 2013 the New York Rangers bought out the final two years of Wade Redden’s contract with a compliance buyout.
Redden’s contract counted on the Rangers cap for this season but will not count on the Rangers cap for next season.
As a free agent, Redden signed with St. Louis and played in 23 games.
He was traded to the Bruins at the trade deadline and played six games for them in the regular season.
In the regular season, split between St. Louis and Boston, Redden had three goals, four assists and played 15:04.
Redden has played five playoff games for Boston and averaged 15:48 with one goal and one assist.
He missed game five with an undisclosed injury, returned in game six but was a late scratch in game seven last night.
John Tortorella reportedly texted Redden after he made his return to the NHL with the Blues.
Adam Rotter: I’m happy for Redden and glad he is in a position where he can have a nice role for a playoff team. He was nothing but great for the players in Hartford and I do think he could have helped the Rangers, but his cap hit prevented that.
Last night, Wade Redden scored his first NHL goal since March 18, 2010.
Redden has played 2 games for the Blues since being bought out by the Rangers and Andy Strickland of True Hockey says that John Tortorella texted Redden wishing him a congratulations on returning to the NHL.
In an interview with The Score, Wade Redden was asked about why things with the Rangers didn’t work after signing a six-year contract, that had a cap hit of $6.5 million per season, in July 2008.
Redden said that the pressure of a big contract caused him to feel as if he wasn’t doing enough and needed to contribute more which took him away from the things that made him successful in the NHL.
He added, “It wasn’t a good fit from early on, and they made a decision to make changes. I lived with that. It wasn’t a good fit, things didn’t work out, and I’ve moved on. I’m done there now, and am happy to have moved on.”
On his time with the Whale, Redden said that he approached the games in the AHL the same way by working hard, playing hard and being a good teammate.
Redden’s time with the Rangers officially ended last week when they bought out the remaining two years on his contract via an accelerated compliance buyout.
In a chat in the Columbus Dispatch, Aaron Portzline talked about how in 2008 the Columbus Blue Jackets were interested in Wade Redden and told him that money would not be an issue for them.
Redden ended up picking the Rangers and in response to being turned down, the next day the Blue Jackets, in search of defensemen, traded Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche to the Rangers for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman.
Portzline writes “Of all the bad luck this club has experienced, that was a huge “WHEW!” moment.”
Glen Sather said at the time that Zherdev was a player the Rangers had been looking at for some time and “the deal kind of fell into our laps.”
3PM:
Best of luck to Wade Redden on his new team the St Louis Blues not only a great hockey player but also a great teammate. #PapaRedds—
Ryan Bourque (@RyanBourque91) January 18, 2013
1:28PM: The Blues have announced that Wade Redden has agreed in principle to a one-year deal worth a pro-rated $800,000.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong said, “Wade is a solid two-way defenseman. We believe his experience will complement and add stability to our defensive core.”
Remember summer Redden was UFA leaving Ottawa and talking to Ken Hitchcock who hoped he'd come to Columbus… Now they're finally together—
Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) January 18, 2013
6:45PM: The Rangers have officially announced the buyout of Redden.
5:22PM: According to Katie Strang, the Rangers accelerated buyout of Wade Redden has been completed and Redden is now no longer part of the Rangers organization.
Redden’s cap hit of $5.6 million stays on the cap for the Rangers this season but is NOT on the cap for next season.
Redden played two years with the Rangers and two years with the Whale. He had one more year left on his contract for next season.
In 2008-09, Redden had three goals and 26 assists in 81 games. He averaged 22:20 per game that season, was a minus five and had 99 hits and 98 blocked shots.
In 2009-10, Redden had two goals and 12 assists in 75 games. He averaged 17:31 per game and had 88 hits and 75 blocked shots.
According to Frank Seravalli in the Philly Daily News, Wade Redden is someone who the Flyers may have interest in as they look to add depth on defense.
He writes that some rumors have Redden and his agent targeting a pro-rated deal of $1.5-$2 million for the season.
Redden will be bought out today by the Rangers.
12:32PM: In the Detroit Free Press, via KK, Helene St. James writes that the Red Wings have discussed the idea of bringing in Wade Redden.
Tom Renney is part of the Red Wings staff and he coached Redden with the Rangers in 2008-09 before being fired.
12:09PM: Pierre LeBrun notes that Scott Gomez is on waivers as well.
12:03PM: The Rangers have placed Wade Redden on waivers with the intention of using a compliance buyout on him.
The NHL is allowing teams to use one of their compliance buyouts before Saturday.
The Rangers will still be on the hook for Redden’s cap hit this season.
