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My take on John Davidson's training camp press conference
September 13, 2019, 10:32 AM ET [79 Comments]
Jan Levine
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The Rangers officially kicked off training cap Thursday. The day consisted of team physicals and John Davidson addressing the media. Today, on-ice testing began at 11am with David Quinn to speak to the media thereafter. Saturday and Sunday kicks off the on-ice session and practice.

Below is some of the tweets from the media and video of J.D., taken from the Westchester Gannett Site, comments along with some quotes from that video originally on NHL.com with my thoughts thereafter:



"One thing with the air of optimism, a lot of it is the coach. Coach Quinn - first of all he's a very good coach, obviously. … He's a great communicator. I think he's a guy that knows how to get the best out of players."


JD didn't hire Quinn, so he has nothing tied to hm. But there appears to be a solid connection between the two of them. Davidson will give Quinn what he can to aid in his attempt to get the Rangers to the next level.



"I think that when you have an opportunity to find a Trouba or a Panarin, you've got to step up and do what you need to to get them."

Asked what Ranger fans are going to learn in the coming weeks and months about Panarin, Davidson talked about his high hockey IQ, and about his obvious skill coupled with his deceptive strength, but his first words were: "Competitive. Really competitive."

"In big spots in games, he (Panarin) likes to find a way," J.D. continued. "He's what I would term a no-maintenance guy - in other words, he's a guy that's going to show up for work every day. You don't have to worry about him showing up for work."


Rebuild be damned. The team is on to the next phase. Panarin and Trouba were seemingly no-brainers but that changed the track and direction of the team. Getting the second pick and selecting Kakko helped, as that allowed management to change their thinking. The path forward was then accelerated by adding Trouba and then Panarin.



"It was kind of fun, actually," Davidson said on Thursday of watching Kakko. "When you go to Traverse City - I think I've been going there something like 15 years … there's a number of players that you can just see it."

When Kakko finally got into that third game (at Traverse City), "he was a little rusty, you could see," Davidson said. "And then he just took over. It was really special to watch - not only the 360-twice goal, it was more - you can see his mind: He's got poise at a high speed, he can play fast with the puck in small areas, yet he's reading where everybody is and making the plays. It was fun to watch....This kid, he's got something. It's going to be fun to watch him develop."


New York will play the party line of slow playing it with Kakko as well as Vitali Kravtsov and Adam Fox. But i think we all would be shocked if all three don't make the team. The future certainly looks bright with Kakko, Kravtsov and Fox for this year with K'Andre Miller, Nils Lundkvist, Karl Henriksson, Igor Shesterkin for the future.

Davidson said he has been in touch with Lundqvist throughout the summer, the two goaltenders talking over the phone and then meeting up in person when Lundqvist came to skate in Westchester last week

"He's (Henrik Lundqvist) in tremendous shape, I'll tell you that - just giving him a handshake you can just feel it," Davidson said. "He's in a great mood, he's excited, he loves the moves we've made. So I expect him to be Hank. And when Hank's Hank, he's pretty good."




Hopefully this means Alexandar Georgiev or Shetserkin receive solid playing time early in the season, keeping Lundqvist fresh. In addition, if Hank does struggle again, having one of those two with a set workload, enabling them to be sharp, will benefit them and the team. If the reduced workload helps Lundqvist be more like the Hank of old, that benefits Lundqvist and the team,.

Dan Rosen of NHL.com put in his training camp column he following on Chris Kreider from JD:

"I'm not going to get into contractual discussions here, it's just not right, but we'll see how it goes," Rangers president John Davidson said. "He's a very good hockey player. I hope he has a tremendous year and then everything is going to go in the right direction for everybody."

Davidson said he got positive reports about Kreider's optimism after the 28-year-old forward had lunch with coach David Quinn two weeks ago. He also said Kreider came into his office after reporting for training camp Thursday and could tell how excited Kreider was to be back with for another season.

"I'm telling you he's just a positive guy right now," Davidson said. "That's what you want coming into camp. We'll just see where it all goes.


We all know the various directions this can go. The situation will play itself out as it will. The likely end result is that CK20 is elsewhere next season. If that occurs before the trade deadline or after the year remains to be determined. I would love for him to re-sign with New York but I am thinking that's more remote than probable based on years and dollars.

Other pieces of info:

JD on ADA:
“Only the one player isn’t here today, and that’s Tony DeAngelo,” Davidson said. “(General manager) Jeff Gorton is talking to his group, (agent) Pat Brisson, daily. It’s up to Tony. He’s welcome to join us any time he wants. He has every right in the world to not come to camp, and so far he’s not coming to camp.”


The ADA situation may not have been aided by what Josh Morrissey and Ivan Provorov received. Not that DeAngelo is in their class, but the long term deals and dollars proffered could make him more intransigent. New York is likely not budging, partially due to available cap space. Davidson is not taking a hard position, which is good, as is the daily discussions, so the situation remains amicable. I hope this gets resolved timely but could see it lingering.





Good news on Andersson, who is in a battle to make the squad and remain at center. Showing up in great shape is step forward. Also good news on Rykov, who will need to be good early and throughout to have a chance to make the team.

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