Sauer Back, Potter Gone

One familiar name from the last few years of Wolf Pack blueliners has re-signed, and one has moved on.

Michael Sauer agreed to (according to capgeek.com) a one-year, two-way deal with the Rangers, while Corey Potter, a Wolf Pack fixture for the past four seasons, left for a one-year, two-way deal (again, I cite capgeek.com) with Pittsburgh.

Potter had more freedom of movement, as he was an unrestricted free agent, while Sauer’s options were limited by his status as a restricted free agent.

They’re pretty similar players…both big, although Sauer, at 215 pounds, has more meat on his bones than the 205-pound Potter, both aggressive and both fairly defensive-minded, although they had both seen time as second-pair power-play guys and done well in that role.

And depending on what you think of plus/minus as a statistical measure, both Sauer and Potter have been real solid on their own half of the ice over most of their Wolf Pack careers. Potter was a +63 for the 249 career games he played in a Wolf Pack uniform, and led all AHL defensemen in 2007-08 with a Pack single-season record +33. Sauer, for his part, was third overall in the league in plus/minus in 2008-09, with a +29.

Potter got eight NHL games from the Rangers during his four years in the organization and seemed to do well in them, but he was bypassed on the depth chart last season by rookies Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy. So you really can’t blame him for looking elsewhere, although it’s a tough loss for the Wolf Pack defense corps.

Sauer is certainly due for some good luck on the injury front, having had to battle back from two surgeries in his three-year pro career. He is three-and-a-half years younger than Potter, and clearly the Rangers feel he still has plenty of upside potential, a view I would agree with.

I spoke to Michael on the phone yesterday and he told me that the shoulder injury that ended his season in late January is fully healed.

He will be in a crowded battle for the last spot on the Ranger backline, a battle that was made more complicated by the parent club’s acquisition of NHL veteran Steve Eminger, so Sauer will have to be at the top of his game coming into training camp to give himself a shot.