The Rangers have signed ex Sabres forward Tim Kennedy.

The 24 year old, 5’10 forward became a UFA after the Buffalo Sabres bought his deal out after accepting an arbitration award in the region of $1m earlier this summer.  Kennedy had a solid rookie year for the Sabres scoring 10 goals and 26 points and can play both left wing and center. Terms of the signing have yet to be disclosed but the deal has been reported on twitter by beat writers Andrew Gross and Steve Zipay.

The signing is by no means a bad one but an odd one. You have to assume that Kennedy would be a bottom 6 player for the Rangers, an area where the Rangers have an abundance both in New York and Hartford. Kennedy does have upside however, prior to his solid NHL rookie year he had an excellent year in the AHL where he put up 67 points for Portland.

Hockeys future had this to say about Kennedy:

His defensive zone play and willingness to take the body have remained strengths, and he showed good leadership ability with his college team.  Though not a pure scorer, he is an opportunistic and smart offensive player, with good fundamentals.

His signing is surely the final nail in the Brian Boyle coffin and Kennedy does seem to have offensive upside even if he doesn’t have natural goal scoring ability. Kennedy in NY also makes the future of players like Dane Byers murkier. After all, where can they all fit? While an odd signing at worst  this is another low risk high reward signing by Sather as Kennedy costs nothing but dollars and could surprise with his talent. Training camp competition just got a little more fierce.

Update (Dave): James Mirtle is reporting that the deal is a one year, one way deal at $550k. The Rangers now have 11 C/LW on the roster.

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