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Hank skates, camp invites for blueline, forwards not yet, RTP/CBA ratified |
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Training camp opens Monday and we are getting a good sense who will be part of that camp. The main names, mirroring who was on the team when the pandemic hit, remain the same. Up in the air are those that will make up the remainder of 28 skaters that will be brought forward with the squad to Toronto. Today provided a bit more clarity. In addition, and most important the NHL and NHLPA have approved the Return-to-Play protocol and CBA.
Schedule:
Rangers-Canes: August 1, August 3, August 4, August 6* and August 8* *If necessary
First, Henrik Lundqvist was back on ice today. Igor Shesterkin, who was relatively local, has been skating for a few weeks with the team. Alexander Georgiev was cleared relatively recently and also has been on the ice.The good news is that all three goalies are healthy and camp with help decide who plays in Game 1 vs. Carolina, more on that to come before the play-in round begins.
The defense for camp has now been set. I think we all expected somewhere between 9-11 blueliners, yet New York will only have eight. Those eight will be the usual six Brendan Smith-Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren, Marc Staal-Anthony DeAngelo plus Libor Hajek and Darren Raddysh.
The two additional players make sense. Hajek opened the season with the Rangers but struggled with puck management and playing alongside Trouba, so was sent down to Hartford, Raddysh - a righty-shooting d-man, so good for balancing the pairs, might have been the Wolf Pack's most consistent blueliner and deserved the spot.
On the flip side, Tarmo Reunanen continued his development but is unavailable due to injury, Vince Mercogliano thought Nick Ebert would get an invite, but his SHL contract precludes this. To me the shocker was not including Brendan Crawley. A lefty-shooting blueliner, I thought Crawley played well enough this season and had the upside potential along the development opportunity by being in camp to be part of the Black Aces.
Yegor Rykov might have made the team, but his injury that sidelined him most of the first of the season coupled with his poor play upon returning left him the odd man out. if you look at the Ryan McDonagh-J.T. Miller trade, the return looks less than optimal. Brett Howden has yet to really pan out, and Hajek, the reported main target, is far from living up to the hype on him, though the verdict in his has been far from reached and he is one of the extra d-men in camp. Our hopes rest with Nils Lundkvist (as well as Karl Henriksson, taken with the second round pick in 2019 received as part of the deal). (Note: thanks for the corrections, brain cramp on Rykov and Hajek. Rykov, as you all correctly pointed out, was acquired along with a second round pick, which was dealt on draft day in 2018 to move up to selected K’Andre Miller, from New Jersey for Michael Grabner. My mistake and screw up, apologies. Will make sure to be more accurate in the future)
While we know the d-men, the forward roster has yet to be finalized, The 13 players below, factoring in the expected suspension for Brendan Lemieux, are likely the first four lines:
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin – Ryan Strome – Jesper Fast
Filip Chytil – Brett Howden – Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Lemieux – Gregg McKegg – Phil Di Giuseppe/Julien Gautheir
New York, since only eight d-men are with the team, could keep 20 forwards. We know Vitali Kravtsov and Vinni Lettieri are in camp and should be two of the extras with both having a shot to be in the active roster. I have listed several names as options previously, a list that could include Matt Beleskey, Steven Fogarty, Tim Gettinger, Boo Nieves, Danny O'Regan and Ty Ronning.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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