The Rangers announced that defenseman Connor Mackey was assigned to AHL Hartford. They’re left with an open roster spot for now.
There are multiple potential motivations for the demotion. Mackey was recalled last weekend to serve as a healthy extra in conjunction with Carson Soucy landing on injured reserve. Soucy is eligible to come off IR tomorrow after sustaining his upper-body injury last Saturday, Oct. 11. He hasn’t skated since then, though, so a return this weekend seems unlikely. The Blueshirts were also carrying eight defensemen on the active roster entering today. They recalled top prospect Scott Morrow on Wednesday amid an injury concern for William Borgen, but Borgen ended up being able to go for yesterday’s overtime loss to the Maple Leafs.
Hartford is also light on its blue line, with the Mackey and Morrow recalls leaving them with just three NHL-contracted defensemen on their roster. Sending Mackey back gives them a fourth and a stable veteran presence as their schedule ramps up.
Notably, the waiver-exempt Morrow stays up for now. That could change when Soucy is ready to return, but reassigning Mackey over Morrow indicates the Rangers may look to get the latter into his season debut sooner rather than later. They’re still ironing out some question marks on their blue line. It’s hard to justify taking rookie Matthew Robertson out of the lineup – after starting the year as New York’s No. 7, he’s been elevated into top-four duties with Borgen with Soucy out. That pairing has dominated to the tune of a 70.4 xGF% and 53.5 CF% at 5v5, per MoneyPuck. While dressing Morrow would give them four righties and two lefties, they may be mulling a benching for Urho Vaakanainen, who’s been a non-factor on the scoresheet through six games.
Mackey, 29, is in his third season with the organization. This recall didn’t result in any playing time, but he did log one appearance for the Blueshirts in 2023-24 and two in 2024-25. The 6’3″ lefty is a pending UFA on a two-way deal and has recorded an 8-27–35 scoring line with a +12 rating in 111 games for Hartford over the past three years.
Mackey does not need waivers for today’s demotion because he’s played fewer than 10 NHL games and spent less than 30 days on the active roster since he last cleared them. This recall lasted five days, so he’s got 25 left on his clock before he needs to hit the wire again to return to Hartford.