The Rangers open their season exactly one week from today in Washington. The roster is beginning to take shape, and there really aren’t many training camp battles left. With that, the attention shifts to the opening night Rangers lineup, the lines, and what exactly Chris Drury and Gerard Gallant meant by roles.
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1. The opening night lineup will not be the lineup that finishes the season. It will not be the lineup that is used the following week. Hell, it may not even be the lineup used for the home opener. This cannot be stressed enough. There is always focus on the opening night lineup, but how often does the Game 1 lineup match the Game 82 lineup, or the Game 60 lineup, or the Game 11 lineup? Rarely.
2. Ryan Reaves will likely be in the opening night lineup. The hockey schedulers have a sense of humor, and the Rangers open the season in Washington. Thus, Ryan Reaves will 100% be in the opening night lineup. But he likely won’t play all 82 games. Julien Gauthier will probably get at least a 50/50 split with him at 4RW. Expect Dryden Hunt to get a bunch of games as well. That’s with a fully healthy lineup too. But the Rangers won’t be fully healthy for all 82 games.
3. Injuries will wind up playing a role in the lineups going forward. Much like how we expect Hunt and Gauthier to be the healthy scratches to start the season, the first injury in the top nine will likely result in Gauthier getting regular time. If Reaves or Blais have rough stretches, Hunt will get in the lineup. Those are your short term replacements up front. There is significant depth both short term, and long term with Morgan Barron and Lauri Pajuniemi waiting in the wings.
4. As for the lines, they are still up in the air, for the most part. It sounds like the third line is set with Barclay Goodrow-Filip Chytil-Vitali Kravtsov. The 1RW spot was Alexis Lafreniere’s, but now it appears that Chris Kreider will get the spot for now. This again plays into #2. The lines on opening night will not be the lines throughout the season. Expect movement throughout the top nine. Also expect Sammy Blais to move up in case of multiple injuries. The lineups are always fluid. But don’t expect Dryden Hunt to spend significant time in the top six. Those days are over.
5. On defense, things are set for now. Gallant isn’t fixing what ain’t broke, so it’s down to Patrik Nemeth pair with one of Nils Lundkvist or Zac Jones. While we expect the lines to change, I don’t expect the pairs to change much, if at all, barring injury. I don’t even expect Jarred Tinordi to get many games if the Rangers stay healthy. That’s a big if, of course. Keep your eyes on that K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba pairing. Last year they were billed as the top pair. This year, they are the second pair. Will that lead to better on-ice results?
6. The only unknowns right now for the Rangers are the deployment and the lineup roles. The top six forwards will get the scoring roles, but does that mean the third line gets the shutdown role? Seems like an odd fit for Chytil and Kravtsov, even if they are solid two way players. Does that mean the fourth line is the shutdown line? Or is Gallant evolving, noting that having a designated shutdown “line” isn’t needed anymore, and that four scoring/two way lines gets you further. With that in mind, will the Rangers have a designated late faceoff line with Goodrow, Rooney, and an additional winger as their final minute line?
7. Individual roles will be a factor too. We touched on this on the podcast (see below), and specific players will have specific roles. For example, we know what Reaves and Tinordi will be doing. Mika Zibanejad will be a trigger man. Ryan Lindgren a shutdown defenseman. Things like this matter as well, as each Rangers player needs to know their own role within the function of the lineup and the team.
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