Kevin Rooney gets last spot on Rangers' protected list for NHL expansion draft
Kevin Rooney of the Rangers follows the puck against the Washington Capitals in the first period at Capital One Arena on March 28, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Rob Carr
Fourth-line center and penalty-killer Kevin Rooney got the final spot on the Rangers’ 11-man protected list for Wednesday’s NHL expansion draft, which the league revealed Sunday.
Rooney, signed as a free agent from the Devils before last season, got the spot over last season’s surprise find, Colin Blackwell, and underachieving 23-year-old Julien Gauthier.
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo, banished from the team in late January after instigating a fight with teammate Alexandar Georgiev, was among the players left unprotected by the Rangers, as were Long Islanders Keith Kinkaid and Anthony Bitetto.
There hadn’t been much suspense as far as who would be on the Rangers’ protected list. With teams able to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender, and with the Rangers not needing to protect first- and second-year professionals, there weren’t many tough calls for president and general manager Chris Drury. Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox was exempt from the draft, as were Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller.
The first six forwards — Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich, Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil — were pretty easy to figure out, and defensemen Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek were the obvious choices for the defense. With No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin exempt as a second-year player, backup Georgiev, 25, made more sense to protect than No. 3 goalie Kinkaid, who turned 32 on July 4.
The only slight wrinkle came when the Blueshirts on Saturday traded forward Brett Howden to the Vegas Golden Knights. Howden, 23, had been expected to be the last forward protected, but trading him for a fourth-round draft pick in 2022, plus minor-league defenseman Nick DeSimone, allowed Drury to protect Rooney instead.
Rooney, 28, helped improve the Rangers’ penalty kill in 2021 and posted career highs in goals (eight), assists (six) and points (14) in 54 games. He scored two shorthanded goals and won 45% of his faceoffs, second best among regular centers on the team behind Zibanejad’s 46.3%.
Blackwell, 28, bounced around the minor leagues before signing with the Rangers as a free agent before last season. He started the season on the taxi squad but scored a goal in his first game and kept scoring. He ended up with career highs in games played (47), goals (12), assists (10) and points (22).
Bitetto, from Island Park, was the seventh defenseman for most of the season in 2021. He missed time with a lower-body injury and had one goal and three assists in 14 games.
Kinkaid, who was born in Farmingville, appeared in nine games (seven starts) in 2021 and went 3-2-1 with a 2.59 goals-against average and an .898 save percentage.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.