The Rangers got down to 22 players Monday, reducing their roster by eight players. Most of New York's cuts were expected, though one may have been a mild surprise, but was the right move. In addition, one player who made the team was not one most of us expected to be the case. But his presence makes a modicum of sense.
Here were the moves and the roster from the official press release:
Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, Vinni Lettieri, Ryan Lindgren, and Igor Shesterkin have all been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL). Boo Nieves will be placed on waivers with the purpose of being assigned to Hartford should he clear. In addition, Tarmo Reunanen has been loaned to Lukko in Liiga (Finnish Elite League). Joe Morrow has also been released from his Professional Tryout (PTO).
The Rangers have 22 players on their roster. The roster breakdown is listed below:
Forwards (13): Lias Andersson, Pavel Buchnevich, Jesper Fast, Micheal Haley, Brett Howden, Kaapo Kakko, Chris Kreider, Brendan Lemieux, Greg McKegg, Vladislav Namestnikov, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad
Defensemen (7): Tony DeAngelo, Adam Fox, Libor Hajek, Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith, Marc Staal, Jacob Trouba
Goaltenders (2): Alexandar Georgiev, Henrik Lundqvist
* Note – Yegor Rykov is injured
Chytil, Shesterkin, Reunanen and Morrow all were somewhat expected. Chytil didn't have a strong camp, bouncing from wing to center and back to wing, so his demotion - while unfortunate - was something I mentioned last week as a possibility and seemed to be in the cards. He should be the first line center, see 18-20 minutes a game and also be on the first power play unit. Shesterkin will start in Hartford, seeing most of the action between the pipes. Reunanen was slated to go back to Finland but is clearly on the radar for the future. Morrow had an uphill battle and the decision to keep Smith, due to his ability to swing between forward and defense along with his willingness and ability to play with an edge - a focus of coach David Quinn - sealed Morrow's fate.
Quinn on Chytil:
"It’s things we’ve talked about with Fil before — understanding how competitive he’s going to need to be on pucks consistently, faceoffs, responsibilities defensively. There is a decision to be made if you’re on offense or you’re on defense,” Quinn said. “His feel for the game in general, and that comes with playing a lot and growing as a player. Right now, we feel [Hartford] is the best spot for him.”
Gorton on Chyti:
“The way we looked at it was, he wasn’t in our top-nine (forwards) right now,” Gorton said. “And we weren’t prepared to put him on our fourth line. I think we were better-served — and he’s better-served — playing in Hartford right now, playing on the top line, playing big minutes, playing on the power play, playing in the middle. We went through all those scenarios and talked to Fil about it.”
Kravtsov was the mild surprise but the decision to demote him was similar to that of Chytil. If Kravtsov wasn't going to play top-nine, then having him play 18-20 minutes on the top line and in all situations made more sense than having him on a fourth line, where his skills are wasted and don't best fit. The top-six in New York are set while the third line has Brett Howden as the center and Lias Andersson, who starred in camp, as the fourth line center. I do expect those two to swap at some point.
Namestnikov and Fast flank Howden while Andersson has Lemieux and either Smith, as was the case in practice Tuesday, or McKegg, who beat out Nieves for the spot with his strong camp. Michael Haley was signed Tuesday and brings a physical presence. He will likely be scratched more often than he plays, why it also made sense to have the two kids in the minors rather than in the press box. That's not to say I agree with the move, because I preferred Nieves, but Nieves passing through waivers unclaimed is a pretty good indication of the what the league thinks of him.
Gorton on Kravtsov:
“(He’s a) highly-skilled guy that’s a young player that’s trying to figure out North American hockey, and I think he (shows) flashes of really good things — specifically on the power play,” Gorton said. “I think we saw his skill. We can all see his thinking, his skill, his hands. I don’t think he’s too far away, but I think 20 minutes (per game in the AHL) is a better service to him than six, seven, eight minutes (or) not knowing if he’s going be in the lineup (in the NHL).”
Lindgren came on as camp wore on and I thought he had a good chance to beat out Hajek due to his physical play. But Hajek's overall skill set allowed him to earn that sixth spot. Smith is the seventh, as noted above.
Kakko and Fox were all but locks to be on the team when camp ended. So their presence and placement - second line, third d-pairing - aren't surprising. Each could be in the Calder Trophy mix, especially Kakko, who showed why he was the second overall pick.
The
two power play units, slightly modified, from early on in camp as Kakko is now on the second line with Buchnevich on the top unit:
Pavel Buchnevich-Artemi Panarin-Chris Kreider-Jacob Trouba-Mike Zibanejad
Brendan Lemieux-Ryan Strome-Kaapo Kakko-Adam Fox, and either Tony DeAngelo or Brady Skjei.
Per Larry Brooks, the
Rangers will not name a captain for this season. I thought Zib might have been named captain due to his leadership skills and long-term contract, since he would be here a while, so I find it mildly surprising that he was not be named. Zibanejad, Kreider, Fast and Staal. The Rangers have been without a captain since Ryan McDonagh was traded during the 2017-18 season.
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