Blog Archives
Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen placed on waivers
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
UPDATE: John Gilmour, Ryan Graves, Robin Kovacs, Malte Stromwall and Mackenzie Skapski were sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL).
With Alain Vigneault continuing to trim the roster down as the regular season draws closer, the team made two more cuts prior to the preseason closer against the Flyers tomorrow. Forwards Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen were the casualties today and were placed on waivers.
Hrivik had no points in four games, while Jensen had a goal and an assist in four appearances. His goal came in last night’s game against the Islanders and sent it to overtime.
The Jensen cut made sense, as his performance was relatively underwhelming and players like Brandon Pirri had been outperforming him. Hrivik was a little surprising because he has shown the ability to handle a fourth line role and deserved a longer look than he got. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers lines for tonight in Philly; Lundqvist makes preseason debut
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Following the team’s first preseason loss, Alain Vigneault and the Rangers will take on the Philadelphia Flyers for game four of the preseason schedule. Here’s how they’ll line up;
Jimmy Vesey-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash
Brandon Pirri-Kevin Hayes-Pavel Buchnevich
JT Miller-Marek Hrivik-Robin Kovacs Read the rest of this entry
Fixing the Pirri Problem; How to best use the new breakout Ranger
Bobby Bevilacqua
Brandon Pirri needs to get into the lineup one way or another, but which option is the best? Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
When the Rangers signed Brandon Pirri, my first thought was that there had to be a trade in the team’s future. Pirri is a goal scoring threat and an underutilized top-nine talent, so they needed to make space for him.
The Rangers had already signed Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich, filled out their bottom six, and re-signed Chris Kreider and JT Miller. I was thrilled with the signing because I had been watching Pirri since his 22 goal 2014-25 season, but I was just a bit confused.
It’s baffling that Brandon Pirri hasn’t secured a regular roster spot anywhere because he’s been scoring at an elite rate in the NHL for a while now. He’s scoring at a right of 1.31 goals per 60 minutes, which is higher than Evgeni Malkin, John Tavares, James Neal, Brad Marchand and Zach Parise over the last three years. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers Lineup for tonight’s game against the Devils
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers have announced their official lineups for tonight’s preseason game against the New Jersey Devils;
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-JT Miller
Jimmy Vesey-Philip McRae-Nicklas Jensen
Michael Grabner-Nathan Gerbe-Jesper Fast
Ryan Gropp-Maxim Lapierre-Chris Brown Read the rest of this entry
Rangers Recap: Observations following the preseason opener
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The offseason moves seem to already paying off, and the Rangers played differently than they did last year based on their personnel. For the preseason I won’t be doing goal breakdowns or a period-by-period summary, but instead a bullet list with observations.
- It’s too early to tell for sure because it’s only been one game, but the team played differently. Last year, speed was noticeably lacking and the team didn’t have an identity. The offseason moves made show that the team is looking for speed and youth. There was a lot of excellent transition, puck movement and breakaways, and I’m excited to see this team come together on the final roster.
therangerzone.com 