The Rangers have just one game remaining in the preseason, and while most of the roster can be predicted, there are a few key battles that are still up in the air. David Quinn said it best yesterday, von the date and time you ask him. We as fans have our own personal feelings as well.
There are three key battles remaining: The battle for 6D, the battle for 8/9F, and the battle for 12F. These battles have their own fallout, determining who stays with the club and who gets sent to Hartford, and also determines who the 7D and 13F will be when the Rangers decide to carry extra players.
The Battle for 6D
We covered this a bit yesterday, and there are currently four locks for the defense: Marc Staal, Jacob Trouba, Brady Skjei, and Tony DeAngelo. That means two starting spots for Libor Hajek, Brendan Smith, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, and Joe Morrow (PTO). If we assume, based off yesterday’s pairings, that Hajek is the lock and Fox is on the bubble, then the decision becomes Fox vs. Lindgren vs. Smith. It is worth noting that Fox was paired with Lindgren and did not play last night, while Hajek and Smith were playing with Trouba and Skjei, respectively. Perhaps that is an indication of how David Quinn is leading, perhaps not.
**You can swap Hajek/Fox in the above paragraph and the battle is still there. It’s just how I read into those pairings.
It is certainly possible that Fox might start the year in Hartford with Lindgren, and Hajek/Smith will stay with the club. The NHL schedule has a lot to do with this as well, and is a wild card in some of these decisions.
The Battle for 8/9F
As Rob has pointed out, there are a ton of locks on forward. Where they play is still up in the air, but Vitali Kravtsov’s play has certainly made things interesting. If we assume Ryan Strome is the 2C and Filip Chytil will be moved to the wing, then we are looking at two top-nine spots open for four players: Kravtsov, Vlad Namestnikov, Brett Howden, and Lias Andersson.
Again the schedule plays a role here, as all but Namestnikov can be sent to Hartford without any real repercussions. This situation is significantly harder to predict than the defense, as it is so fluid with more variables at play. The only inkling of a decision we’ve seen is that Andersson seems to be a lock as 4C and PK1. He’s certainly had the best preseason of that quartet.
The Battle for 12F
This is the interesting one, since this was assumed to be Boo Nieves’ spot to lose. But with how Kravtsov has played and how Greg McKegg has played, it may not be his spot to lose anymore.
Looking at who’s left from the forwards, we have two predictable cuts: Micheal Haley and Vinni Lettieri. That leaves the Rangers with 15 forwards. After that, the 12F is difficult to predict because the decision for 8/9F plays into this.
Does that fourth line of Brendan Lemieux and Namestnikov flanking Andersson make it to the first game? If so, neither of Nieves nor McKegg are cracking the top-12.
Does Namestnikov crack the top-nine, subbing in Jesper Fast on the fourth line? That certainly would be interesting. Even in this scenario, Nieves and McKegg are not in the top-12.
But what about if two of Chytil, Howden, Kravtsov, and Andersson go to the AHL? Then we have some interesting developments, at least for opening night.
And that is the fun part here – official opening night is a week away, and with the schedule the way it is, the real start to the Blueshirts’ season is 10/17 when they actually begin playing a real NHL schedule. But more on that tomorrow.
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