Rangers claim Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from Kings, assign Matt Rempe to minors
The New York Rangers continued to retool their roster Monday, claiming forward Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.
By claiming the 23-year-old forward, the Rangers add a low-risk, high-reward player that can provide depth and scoring to their roster. Kaliyev is a shoot-first player with good size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds), and could be an intriguing piece moving forward.
In a corresponding move, the Rangers assigned Matt Rempe to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League. The towering 22-year-old forward has one game remaining on his eight-game suspension for boarding and elbowing Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars. Rempe is pointless in five games with the Rangers this season.
Kaliyev was a second-round pick (No. 33 overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft. He played in parts of three seasons with the Kings, scoring an NHL career-high 14 goals in 80 games during the 2021-22 season, and a career-best 28 points in 56 games in 2022-23.
Overall, he has 35 goals and 71 points in 188 regular-season games in the NHL.
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Arthur Kaliyev brings offensive upside to Rangers
Kaliyev had a hard time staying in the Kings lineup, except in 2021-22. He played 56 games the next season, then 51 in 2023-24, when he finished with 15 points (seven goals, eight assists). Coming into this season, Kaliyev sustained a fractured clavicle during training camp, and did not play in any games with the Kings.
However, it looks like Kaliyev is ready to return to NHL action. Prior to being placed on waivers, he had a conditioning stint with the Ontario Reign, Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate. In five AHL games, he recorded one goal and one assist.
The next step for the Rangers will be finding a place in the lineup for Kaliyev. The Rangers are off Monday, coming off of a back-to-back over the weekend when they split against the Washington Capitals, a 7-4 loss, and Chicago Blackhawks, a 6-2 win.
So, we’ll have a better idea of Peter Laviolette’s plan for Kaliyev come Tuesday, when the Rangers will have a morning skate prior to their game against the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden.
Perhaps Kaliyev will be filling in for Chris Kreider, who is currently day to day with an upper-body injury. Kreider didn’t play against the Blackhawks, and missed time earlier in the season due to back spasms, and was open with the media about how he has been dealing with the issue for a prolonged amount of time.
Against the Blackhawks on Sunday, it was Jonny Brodzinski who filled in for the injured Kreider, and did a nice job by scoring a goal to get the Rangers on the board in the first period. Though Brodzinski is a good placeholder, it’s possible that the Rangers want a more offensively-driven player like Kaliyev in the lineup.
Kaliyev scored 51 goals (in 2018-19) and 44 goals (in 2019-20) for Brantford in the Ontario Hockey League. So, he’s got goal-scoring capabilities.
However, he was in need of a change in scenery, not unlike Kaapo Kakko, whom the Rangers traded to the Seattle Kraken a couple weeks ago. Kaliyev has some familiarity with the Rangers, playing with Brett Berard on the United States National team at the 2020 and 2021 World Junior Championship. He and Berard helped the U.S. win the gold medal at the 2021 WJC.
As a youngster, Kaliyev also played for the Jr. Rangers in 2013-14.
Now we’ll see if Kaliyev can make an impact on this Rangers team that’s won two of its past three games and is trying to dig out from the basement of the Metropolitan Division standings.
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