Rangers Reassign Anton Blidh, Spencer Martin

The New York Rangers made a trio of transactions to prepare their roster for the Olympic break, reassigning forward Anton Blidh and netminder Spencer Martin to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.

In a corresponding move, the club recalled netminder Hugo Ollas from their ECHL affiliate, the Bloomington Bison. Because CBA rules stipulate that a team must carry three healthy goalies at all times, the Rangers needed to recall a goalie from somewhere if they wanted to send Martin down.

Since recalling Hartford starter Dylan Garand would be relatively counter-productive to their goal of positioning Hartford to win as much as possible during the break, Ollas became the natural choice for the recall.

Blidh, 30, is one of Hartford’s key veterans and has been recalled a few times this season to play a fourth-line role in New York. He has one assist in four NHL games this season and eight points in 35 AHL games. Blidh scored 19 goals and 36 points with the Wolf Pack last season, and is under contract through next season with a two-way structure and a $385K annual guarantee.

Martin, 30, was a mid-season signing by the Rangers, one that helped them shore up their goaltending depth amidst an injury suffered by star Igor Shesterkin.

Martin had over 60 games of NHL experience when he left North America over the summer to sign with the KHL’s CSKA Moscow. Martin put up a .905 save percentage across 13 games before leaving the KHL to get an NHL opportunity with the Rangers organization. In six games with Hartford this year, Martin has a .906 save percentage. He also has six NHL games played this year, but only has an .864 save percentage in that limited sample.

As for Ollas, the 23-year-old is a massive goalie prospect in the middle of his second professional campaign in the organization. The 6’8″, 238-pound netminder has an .895 save percentage in 14 games for ECHL Bloomington this season.