Sweeping changes are coming. We know that, now but we also knew that the past month or so.
That said, I’m not sure anyone saw the start of things going the way they did — when the New York Rangers waived Brendan Smith yesterday afternoon. Just 50 games in a sparkling new four-year contract worth $4.35-million per season, Smith is on his way to Hartford.
The caveat here is Smith reportedly came into camp out of shape, which led to his healthy-scratch stint and rough start to the year. Since then, the eye test has marked Smith out as an utter failure, although apparently his underlying numbers haven’t been that bad.