The New York Rangers entered camp without many questions about their opening night roster, but injuries to Ryan Lindgren (upper body) and Jimmy Vesey (lower body) have led to competition for the team’s final spots.
Tuesday’s lineup against the New Jersey Devils was likely the last opportunity for players battling for roster spots to make an impression in a preseason game setting. Coach Peter Laviolette will likely ice a lineup Friday resembling the one that will take the ice in Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York trimmed its roster before Tuesday’s game, sending Jaroslav Chmelar, Bryce McConnell-Barker, Dylan Roobroeck and Adam Sýkora to AHL Hartford and releasing Adam Erne and Madison Bowey from their professional tryout agreements. Erne and Bowey will both go to Hartford on PTOs. The Rangers also put Louis Domingue, Anton Blidh, Brandon Scanlin and Casey Fitzgerald on waivers, according to PuckPedia, so they’ll likely head to Hartford too if they clear.
If the waiver players clear and are sent to the AHL, the Rangers’ roster will go down to 32 players. That number includes Lindgren and Vesey, as well as Ryder Korczak, Riley Nash and Matthew Robertson, who have all missed either some or all of camp with injuries. Taking them out of the equation, the Rangers have 27 players fighting for spots. If the Rangers want a similar roster construction to most of last year they’ll carry 22 healthy players: 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.
After five preseason games, here’s how I’m projecting the opening night roster will look, excluding the players who have missed time with injury.
Forwards
On the roster (13): Jonny Brodzinski, Sam Carrick, Filip Chytil, Will Cuylle, Adam Edström, Kaapo Kakko, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafrenière, Artemi Panarin, Matt Rempe, Reilly Smith, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad
Cut (3): Brett Berard, Bo Groulx, Brennan Othmann
Vesey’s injury opened a roster spot, and Edström’s strong preseason makes him a prime candidate to fill in on the fourth line. He’s chipped in offensively, adding his third preseason goal against the Devils by backhanding in his own shot attempt. At 6-foot-7, he has size and could play on a line with the 6-8 Rempe. Laviolette tried that out last season.
Like Edström, Othmann made his NHL debut last season. He’s an interesting case. A 2021 first-round pick, he’s shown flashes this preseason, including on Tuesday when he collected a pair of assists. The big question for him — as with many young players — is consistency. If Laviolette isn’t ready to have him in the lineup regularly, it’s better to have Brodzinski as the No. 13 forward and let Othmann get regular playing time in Hartford.
In a development that could affect the roster, Panarin left Tuesday’s game early with a lower-body injury, the second time he’s done so in as many preseason games played. Laviolette did not have an update postgame other than that the wing is being evaluated, but if he misses time, the Rangers could either carry only 12 forwards or give a young player with skill like Othmann or Berard a shot to start the year skating with skilled players. Berard got bumped up in the lineup when Panarin left the game.
Defensemen
On the roster (7): Adam Fox, Zac Jones, Victor Mancini, K’Andre Miller, Chad Ruhwedel, Braden Schneider, Jacob Trouba
Cut (1): Connor Mackey
Though considered a prospect with promise, Mancini entered camp as a long shot to make the NHL roster. Now, after a strong preseason effort — including a goal Tuesday against the Devils — and the injury to Lindgren, that idea doesn’t seem so far-fetched. He’s outlasted other defensemen with NHL experience, including Ben Harpur and Casey Fitzgerald.
“He’s taken down a lot of ice time in games from rookie camp through this camp here,” Laviolette said Tuesday night. “Sometimes for young players that can be a little bit challenging. And so the response he had tonight was really good. … He was definitely sharp with his game: his skating, his puck-moving and escapability in the defensive zone, the ability to jump in offensively.”
With Fox, Miller, Schneider, Trouba and likely Jones as locks to make the roster, the final two defenseman jobs seem to be the spots most up for grabs as camp winds down. Some of Mancini’s chances come down to whether Laviolette is comfortable with him playing on the left side. The 22-year-old has played there in spurts this preseason but has mostly been on the right. Laviolette also might not trust him as much on the penalty kill as someone like Ruhwedel. Mancini is also waiver-exempt, so the Rangers wouldn’t have to worry about losing him if they sent him to Hartford. Ruhwedel and Mackey would both require waivers.
The 34-year-old Ruhwedel is an established defenseman with 364 career games and a Stanley Cup to boot. Laviolette was pretty content having him as the seventh defenseman after his acquisition at the trade deadline last year. He played only five games after coming over at the deadline.
If Laviolette opts to have Ruhwedel or Mackey as one of the six defensemen in the lineup, it doesn’t make much sense to have Mancini in the NHL. He’d benefit more from playing games than from watching in the press box.
Mackey, who scored his first goal of the preseason Tuesday, brings snarl and has fought twice this preseason. And unlike Mancini and Ruhwedel, he’s a natural left shot. The 28-year-old hasn’t had as standout a preseason as Mancini, but he’ll have a case for one of the final spots based on some of the boxes he checks.
Laviolette praised Mackey’s physicality postgame and added the players competing for spots are, in general, “really accountable for themselves with the way they play the game.”
“That’s what you want, and it makes it difficult when it comes to decision making,” he said.
Goalies
On the roster (2): Igor Shesterkin, Jonathan Quick
Cut (1): Dylan Garand
Barring injury, the goalie pair is set in stone. Shesterkin is among the best in the league and Quick is coming off a strong first season as the Rangers’ No. 2. The biggest question within the goalie group is not who makes the team. It’s whether Shesterkin, a pending unrestricted free agent, signs an extension before the season begins. The Athletic previously reported his camp will not negotiate with the Rangers once the season begins.
(Top photo of Peter Laviolette and the Rangers bench: Rich Graessle / Getty Images)
