Following Preseason Game 5 of 6 the New York Rangers have sent five more players to Hartford, trimming their camp roster to a total of 31* players.
Anton Blidh, Brandon Scanlin, Casey Fitzgerald as well as goaltenders Louis Domingue and Dylan Garand will report to Hartford, joining the rest of the AHL squad for their training camp which kicked off at the beginning of the week.
Again, not many surprises. Scanlin and Fitzgerald are both call-up options on defense but it would likely take a great deal of injuries or something unforeseen to happen before we see either of them again. The same could be said for Anton Blidh who is pretty deep on the Rangers depth charts.
Domingue and Garand will continue to split goaltending duties in Hartford with Garand likely seeing more of the starts as he is beginning to flourish in the early stages of his development.
With opening night just eight days away, it’s perhaps the names that still remain with the Rangers that come as more of a surprise.
*According the Rangers official press release, they trimmed the roster by five which would leave it at 31, not the 30 they suggested. Riley Nash’s name has seemingly disappeared from their roster but hasn’t been waived or moved considering he’s been injured since the start of camp.
Which brings us to two of the additional names that remain on the Rangers roster, Ryder Korczak and Matthew Robertson. Korczak, just like Nash, hasn't participated in camp at all because of an injury and Robertson picked something up in Game 1 in Boston. That being said, it’s reasonable to assume the only reason they are still included on the roster is because of the injuries prohibiting their transactions.
So technically speaking, if you discard Nash, Korczak and Robertson, the Rangers really only have 28 names remaining in the running for a roster spot. With Lindgren and Vesey hurt to start the season, (hopefully Panarin won’t be) you could say there are only four more cuts to be made. Two defense spots are now open with Lindgren hurt to start the season which are being battled out for between Connor Mackey, Chad Ruhwedel and Victor Mancini. As for the forwards, there’s essentially two, three if you don’t count Rempe as a lock, roster spots open between Adam Edström, Jonny Brodzinski, Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann, and Bo Groulx.
Joe did a good job of bringing everyone up to speed on the competition for those spots in his latest, but essentially, it’s looking like Edström could earn a spot on the fourth line to start the season with Brodzinski skating as the extra forward. On defense, it will come down to weather or not the Rangers want to give Mancini some NHL games to start the season or if they want to go with the ol’ reliables (Mackey and Ruhwedel)
The Rangers are off today but will have one more solid practice before their dress rehearsal with the Islanders Friday Night. An outing where final decisions on roster spots will likely be made.
