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Rangers play first of six pre-season games in Boston tonight, first cuts |
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We have hockey. Granted, it's just the pre-season, but a score will be kept and evaluations made. As a reminder, do not go overboard on what we see positively or negatively, though as I see it, I know that anything good or bad will be extrapolated broadly.
Making the trip to Boston are: Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Will Cuylle, Jimmy Vesey, Jonny Brodzinski, Brennan Othmann, Braden Schneider, Connor Mackey, Ben Harpur, Casey Fitzgerald. Louis Domingue and Dylan Garand.
From that list, the first four forwards are locks to make the team. The one we all will be watching closely is Chytil, who said Saturday that he started practicing five days after the playoffs ended and has been training the past three months. Chytil says he is 100% and good to go. His presence as the third-line center changes the dynamic and purpose of that unit from a checking to a possible scoring trio. We get the first chance to see if the time off last year has any impact on him this season.
Brodzinski is on the bubble as the 12th/13th forward while Othmann gets the first opportunity amongst the kids to make an impression.On the blue line, Schneider is set on the second - or third pair - while Mackey, Harpur and Fitzgerald are all battling with Chad Rudwedel to be the 7th d-man or next man up if a blueliner is needed. Domingue and Garand are the netmiding combo in Hartford with Garand the possible back up next season if Jonathan Quick is not back or retires.
Here is the full list for tonight: The other two players I am looking forward to seeing are Adam Sykora, who has a shot at a role in the bottom-six, and Victor Mancini, possibly next in line on the blue line.
The list of players who scrimmaged in Tarrytown this morning and obviously won't be in Boston tonight were: Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Reilly Smith, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafrenière, Adam Edström, Matt Rempe, Sam Carrick, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K'Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba, Zac Jones, Ruhwedel, Igor Shesterkin and Quick.
The top-two lines remained in New York along with the likely starting fourth-line center. Rempe is not locked into a roster spot, but he is pretty close, while Edström played well in the rookie games against Philly and should get a chance to impress in the next contest. Five of the top blueliners are not playing along with Ruhwedel while the starting and backup goalie this season stay at home as well.
In today's practice, Brett Berard was impressive, which was noticed by coach Peter Laviolette. ""He's a worker. He's a competitor. He competes in battles and he plays with a lot of juice." Berard is one of my sleepers, as you all know, to either break camp with the team or be one of the first call ups if a forward is needed.
First cuts as roster is trimmed to 48. No real surprises in the list of 11 players either assigned to Hartford, returned to their respective junior teams or released.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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