‘Cleared’: Zuke. Image: Getty
Slowly but surely the oh-so-long hockey-less summer is coming to an end. Traverse City is around the corner, prospects are back in action and news is starting to filter through. Without further delay, let’s hit up Around the League one more time.
It’s the time of the year when we start to hear about try-out offers for veterans ahead of training camps. One that could offer some intrigue is the Blues inviting Scottie Upshall to camp. Upshall has flirted with 20 goals on a few occasions and at 31 could be a decent short term fill-in for the injured Patrick Berglund.
Prediction time: The Rangers will have three centers break fifty points. Kevin Hayes will build on his fine rookie year and scrape past the half-ton.
Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello has been ‘cleared for the new season’. With the time Zuke has had to heal I’m sure most people will not see this as a surprise but regardless, it’s good to hear. Zuccarello has become an increasingly integral part of the Rangers. His importance will only increase as the Rangers have gotten younger up front and have lost Marty St Louis.
New Jersey Devil veteran defenseman Bryce Salvador has retired after a solid 14 year career. Injuries robbed Salvador of almost all of his final year in the NHL.
The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to ‘search’ for new owners. Really, this franchise hasn’t deserved to be littered with legendary talent like Lemieux, Jagr and Crosby because it’s only been kept in the city by hook or by crook over the years. Multiple ownership, finance and arena issues; the Pens have never been a model of stability despite being in a strong sports market and boasting a regularly high quality on-ice product.
Despite the rumours, my quick opinion: no way do the Blackhawks trade Patrick Kane.
Pavel Buchnevich grabbed an assist on the powerplay on Wednesday night to take his early season numbers to 1+1 in his first four games. He also scored the winner in the shootout last night as Severstal beat Torpedo 4-3 in the SO. Buchnevich hasn’t had a ton of time on special teams so far so it’s nice to see his assist came with the extra man. He was however fifth in total ice time among Severstal forwards last night.
The Rangers have five non-goalie prospects playing major junior this year. Four of them are in the WHL. The Rangers have historically had a lot of prospects play in the OHL but Ryan Mantha will be the only one that suits up in the OHL this year. Of course, goalie Brandon Halverson will also be in the OHL this year looking to building on his hugely impressive ‘14-15 campaign.
Indeed, the spread of prospects this season is a lot more even that it has been at times in the past. Goalies included this time; the Rangers have seven prospects playing major junior, three in the NCAA, as well as five in European leagues. No real league bias to be identified this year although individual circumstances do play a part as the Rangers wanted some of their European prospects to come across to North America this year (guys such as Daniel Bernhardt).
Eight days until the Traverse City tourney. I want to see Brady Skjei dominate, I’m looking to see good things from Ryan Gropp and Adam Tambellini and I’m intrigued to see Brad Morrison for the first time in any great detail.
The Rangers are taking a pretty talented defense group to the tourney, headlined by Skjei. It will be interesting to see Skjei, Calle Andersson, Petr Zamorsky, Ryan Mantha and Ryan Graves as a group and in particular how they deal with the stacked Columbus Blue Jackets.
Question time:
- Which prospect are you expecting the most out of at Traverse City?
- Would you trade for Patrick Kane and if so, what would you give in return?
- What’s a realistic projection for Kevin Hayes this year?
- Who will win the Rangers back-up job – project totals.
- Are you concerned at the Rangers depth of prospects?
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