Per Vince Mercogliano, the Rangers were running presumed opening night lines that included Ryan Reaves, Dryden Hunt, and Sammy Blais, which left no room for Vitali Kravtsov. The defense pairs also included Jarred Tinordi and Patrik Nemeth, which left no room for Nils Lundkvist. This likely means that both Lundkvist and Kravtsov will be healthy scratches on opening night on Wednesday.
The "fifth line" is Kravtsov-Barron-Gauthier, with Hajek and Lundkvist skating together as an extra D pair. #NYR https://t.co/mXjAGCi4DR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 11, 2021
Naturally, these lines were the subject of much discussion almost immediately after Vince published them. It seems the Rangers are going full punchy against Tom Wilson on opening night, which was expected.
The Blueshirts do open with a back to back, so don’t expect Kravtsov and Lundkvist to be scratches for long. Also it’s fair to expect a good amount of healthy scratch shuffling for the first month or two of the season. Gerard Gallant still needs to feel out the roster and who will fit best in the roles he needs.
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