Rangers GM says Stoll's off-ice issues 'not really a worry'
Everyone makes mistakes, but sometimes it's important to give people a second chance. That seems to be the route the New York Rangers are taking with Jarret Stoll, the free-agent forward acquired by the team Monday.
Stoll, formerly a member of the Los Angeles Kings, was arrested in April and charged with felony possession of cocaine and MDMA at a pool party in Las Vegas. The 33-year-old plead guilty to lesser charges of trespassing and breach of peace and was ordered to complete 32 hours of community service within 120 days. According to the New York Post, Stoll has already completed the sentence.
While the Kings passed on signing Stoll, the Rangers inked him to a low-risk one-year, $800,000 deal, but New York general manager Jeff Gorton told the media he has no concerns about Stoll moving forward.
"It’s not really a worry," Gorton told the media. "We spent a lot of time talking to him, and going through his incident and moving forward. We were all very impressed with how he handled it and conducted himself and wanted to address it and move on.
"We talked to a lot of people that have played with him in the league and before he got to the league; we’ve talked to trainers and people that have dealt with him -- it all came out the same, as a real character guy that made a mistake."
In seven years with the Kings, Stoll recorded 214 points in 506 games. He also won two Stanley Cup championships during his time in Los Angeles.
(h/t New York Post)
