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Rangers set to open the 2024-25 season in Pittsburgh on Wednesday |
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The Rangers completed a 4-2 preseason last Friday and are set to open the season tomorrow in Pittsburgh. Training camp saw a few revelations, while others failed to impress enough to ride their way onto the team. Injuries, as usual, played a key role the past month resulting in lineup modifications.
AJ Castiglia season hype video:
In camp, Ryan Lindgren was injured, ultimately landing him on injured reserve. His absence has resulted in changes to the defense as well as the usual pairings as you will see below. Up front, Jimmy Vesey’s camp injury landed him on long-term injured reserve, meaning he will be sidelined at least 10 games and 24 games. Artemi Panarin has been battling a lower-body injury which forced out of two preseason games. The good news is that he was able to practice Monday and looks set for the season opener.
Likely lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Edström-Carrick-Rempe
Brodzinski
What should stand out is the fourth line. Adam Edstrom started his journey with a strong rookie camp and built off that success in the regular camp. His efforts, coupled with the injury to Vesey, earned Edstrom a roster spot and place on the fourth line, likely moving Jonny Brodzinski to the press box. Edstrom and Matt Rempe give New York two large human beings at wing on that final trio, and with Sam Carrick, that unit should provide energy and physicality.
Miller-Fox
Jones-Mancini
Schneider-Trouba
Ruhwedel
The absence of Lindgren caused changing in the defensive units and construction of the blue line. We got a look at K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox as a duo in camp. The matching of the two skill sets should provide an interesting dichotomy as Fox relies on his smarts along with his skill while many have viewed Miller as someone who has yet to maximize his talents.
Victor Mancini might have been the most impressive rookie in camp. I said after rookie camp that Mancini was one to watch and I thought he had a shot to break camp. A spot was created due to Lindgren’s injury, but Mancini might have forced his way onto the roster even if everyone was healthy. A pair of young players might scare some, but it’s a look I like, as Zac Jones should have been in the lineup regularly late last season and in the playoffs.
Braden Schneider didn’t take the step forward we all hoped last season. We all know what Jacob Trouba is and how polarizing he is to some. If Trouba plays as he did before he was injured, then this duo should be fine. If not, modifications to the combinations can be somewhat easily made.
Shesterkin
Quick
The main focus here is Igor’s pending unrestricted free agency and reported contract demands. Play as he did the first part of the playoffs and no one will say a word. Struggle as he did before the All-Star break, and it will be Knives Out.
Transactions:
Saturday, Ryder Korczak and Brennan Othmann were assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack
The takeaway here is that Othmann didn’t impress enough to earn a roster spot. He is coming off an okay, not great, season at Hartford. I want to and need to see a lot more from him this year. If not, he could unfortunately end up trade bait at the deadline if a key acquisition is needed. That might be shortsighted but could end up as the reality.
Sunday: Connor Mackey was assigned to the Wolf Pack
Mackey had a solid camp. If not for Mancini’s excellent camp, he might have opened the season on the parent club. If another injury occurred, he and not Matthew Robertson is the next man up.
Monday: All waiver-exempt players (Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Victor Mancini, Brett Berard and Will Cuylle) were assigned to @WolfPackAHL and Jake Leschshyn, Anton Blidh, Ben Harpur and Adam Sykora are being recalled. Matthew Robertson, who went on waivers Sunday, cleared, but remains up for now to maximize the benefit of using LTIR cap space
This is all about creating cap space. The transactions were paper and financial moves. If GM Chris Drury is smart, he makes a lot of moves like this during the year to maximize deadline space. New York’s Opening Night lineup should be as posted above unless something radical happens.
Berard, like Adam Sykora, is one of my favorite players in Hartford. He profiles as a possible perfect, agitate third liner. Berard can score a little and his energy level never falters. He will continue to agitate while on the ice and give full effort on every shift. Love the player and what he could bring to the lineup, and it’s clear he opened some eyes in camp.
On paper, this is a solid team. Many of the questions surrounding this squad has been discussed previously. To me, one key is how the third line performs. If that unit is able to score and take pressure off the top- six, New York becomes a much more dangerous team.
Defensively, we likely will see growing pains from the new pairings. Miller-Fox intrigues me enough to see if it can work. I am really looking forward to watching Jones and Mancini. Much has been written about Trouba, but to me, growth from Schneider is more important to the team’s success.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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