Rangers demote Dawes. Huh?

In what can only be described as a head-scratcher of a move, the Rangers demoted Nigel Dawes to Hartford today. Tom Renney issued a statement saying, for the most part, that Dawes needed to be more of a two way player. Renney said he was looking for consistency from the second highest scorer on the team. To fill his slot, Greg Moore was recalled from Hartford.

Moore will play alongside Petr Prucha and Chris Drury tomorrow night as the Rangers' third line. Also up from Hartford is Ivan Baranka. Baranka is up incase Jason Strudwick can't play tomorrow. Strudwick took a shot off the leg last night and did not play much of the third period. If he can't go, Baranka will slide in next to Paul Mara as the third pairing.

The Dawes demotion is most likely a precursor to Martin Straka and Ryan Callahan coming back. Straka will most like shift back to the top line, with Brandon Dubinsky and Jaromir Jagr, and Callahan will take Moore's spot with Drury and Prucha. While Marcel Hossa is a valuable two way player, you have to imagine that his lack of offensive ability will ultimately spell the end of him as a regular player while everyone is healthy. Either that or he gets stashed on the fourth line, and we lose Ryan Hollweg or Colton Orr.

What would you do? I think the demotion of Dawes was unwarranted, but there is so much depth right now that he is unfortunately expendable. It shouldn't be too long before he gets another call with the big club, or in maybe a more likely scenario, he is traded. We'll see.