{"id":438696,"date":"2026-01-31T22:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/438696\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T22:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:02:13","slug":"rangers-claim-defenseman-vincent-iorio-from-sharks-solid-waiver-pickup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/438696\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers claim defenseman Vincent Iorio from Sharks: \u2018solid waiver pickup\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than a week after trading one defenseman, the New York Rangers added another Saturday afternoon. The Rangers claimed Vincent Iorio<\/a> off waivers from the San Jose Sharks, five days after trading Carson Soucy to the Islanders<\/a> for a third-round pick in this year\u2019s NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

Iorio is a big (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) right-shot defenseman, who was claimed by the Sharks off waivers from the Washington Capitals earlier this season on Oct. 16. Ironically, the 23-tear-old\u2019s last game with the Sharks was a 3-2 win over the Capitals on Jan. 15.<\/p>\n

In 21 games with the Sharks, Iorio had three assists and 12 penalty minutes, and averaged 16:30 TOI. He had seven assists in six AHL games on a conditioning stint with the San Jose Barracuda earlier this season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSolid waiver pickup. Needs to get stronger, but efficient puck play, long and mobile. Really like his transition game,\u201d an NHL scout, not with the Sharks, recently told<\/a> San Jose Hockey Now. \u201cPotential to be a steady third-pairing type.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals selected Iorio in the second round (No. 55 overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. He helped the Capitals AHL affiliate in Hershey win back-to-back Calder Cup championships in 2023 and 2024, and appeared in one Stanley Cup Playoff game in the 2024 first round against the Rangers.<\/p>\n

Iorio had one assist in nine games with the Capitals from 2022-24, and spent all of last season in the minors with Hershey.<\/p>\n

He appeared to be a good fit in San Jose, and not only because he grew up in the Vancouver area, where he was friendly <\/a>with Sharks wonderkid Macklin Celebrini and his brothers. With a string of veteran defensemen on expiring contracts, Iorio looked to have a future with the Sharks as a young up-and-coming blueliner.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt takes time. Right shot D are obviously hard to find,\u201d Sharks coach Dan Warsofsky said recently about Iorio. \u201cWe like the toolset. We like the makeup of the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iorio fits the Rangers youth movement right now as a bottom-pair defender or extra defenseman. He also provides right-handed insurance should the Rangers trade Braden Schneider<\/a> as part of their retool. When Adam Fox<\/a>, returns from his lower-body injury, coach Mike Sullivan has decisions to make regarding the playing time for Iorio, Scott Morrow<\/a>, and Urho Vaakanainen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To make room on the roster, the Rangers sent forward Brett Berard<\/a> back to Hartford of the American Hockey League on Saturday. That leaves Connor Mackey<\/a> as the extra defenseman for their game Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>, since Iorio didn\u2019t join the team yet.<\/p>\n

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After the Penguins tilt, the Rangers play one more game<\/a> before the NHL Olympic break. They host the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden next Thursday.<\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than a week after trading one defenseman, the New York Rangers added another Saturday afternoon. The Rangers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[1503,5169,6857,29,5901,9212,2881,5,501,3328,35,5190,5193,4,465,100,36,519,168,9571,1560,8036,893,16933,109],"class_list":["post-438696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-rangers","tag-adam-fox","tag-braden-schneider","tag-brett-berard","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-carson-soucy","tag-connor-mackey","tag-defenseman","tag-hockey","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkrangers","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-draft","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-rangers","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-scott-morrow","tag-the-capitals","tag-urho-vaakanainen","tag-vancouver","tag-vincent-iorio","tag-washington-capitals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115991972778733811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}