Gerard Gallant has indicated that the top five defensemen for the Rangers are a lock.
Gallant has told us the top-2 D pairs are set- Lindgren-Fox and Miller-Trouba. I asked about the 3rd-pair. He said Patrik Nemeth is locked in, but described the other spot as an ongoing competition.
Is it fair to classify Lundkvist as the favorite? "That's not fair."#NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 2, 2021
Gallant isn’t going to galaxy brain anything yet, sticking with Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba as his top four. Patrik Nemeth is locked into his spot on the third pair, as expected.
The last spot seems to be a battle between Nils Lundkvist and Zac Jones (and Jarred Tinordi, who will likely be the 7th defenseman). Lundkvist had the inside trade, but Jones has looked better this preseason. Both are solid prospects, and it isn’t a step back for whomever loses the battle. This is a battle that may go down to the final day of the preseason.
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