Well, here is the Marc Staal news we have been waiting for, and it is not good. As per Larry Brooks, Marc Staal has officially been placed on long term injured reserve. For those wondering why he wasn’t placed on LTIR before, it was a salary cap move. Per the CBA, when a player is placed on LTIR the team does not gain the full cap hit amount, in this case $3.975 million. The Rangers had not been close enough to the cap ceiling for them to need to do such a move (surprising, I know). The demotion of Sean Avery in October gave them enough room to avoid having to put Staal on LTIR.

However, with the recall of Avery, and the recent addition of Anton Stralman, the Rangers are significantly closer to that $64.3 million cap ceiling, thus generating a need to put Staal on LTIR. It’s a bit complicated, but that’s why the move was made now, as opposed to last month.

The news of Staal being placed on LTIR is a blow to the optimistic fans that had hoped he would be back soon. As we’ve seen with Cindy Sidney Crosby, consussions are a fickle beast, and the recovery time can be very long. Let’s hope Staal is back before 2012, because this blue line needs him.

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