The New York Rangers have placed winger Ville Meskanen on unconditional waivers with the intention of terminating his contract, according to Cap Friendly.

NY #Rangers have placed forward Ville Meskanen on Unconditional Waivers for the purpose of contract termination.



Meskanen was in the second year of his 2 year ELC with NY which he signed on May 3, 2018.https://t.co/Py76o9jtAs https://t.co/aOMRY2HpLO — CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 11, 2019

Meskanen, 24 was signed as a free agent out of Finland in 2018. He had a strong start to his 2018-2019 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack, earning 25 points through 38 games and making a case for a promotion to New York. However, his game declined severely in the second half of the AHL season.

With an improved Wolf Pack roster this season, Meskanen had been relegated to fourth-line duties. He produced no goals and four assists in 20 games. With this contract termination, Meskanen will be free to sign elsewhere and will no longer be Rangers’ property.

Blueshirt Banter ranked Meskanen as the Rangers’ 29th-best prospect this past summer.

In a presumably related move, the Hartford Wolf Pack have recalled winger Ryan Gropp from the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. Gropp had seven points in 10 games for Maine.