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Rangers make third round of cuts, Staal and Girardi to debut in Jersey
Bobby Bevilacqua
Oscar Lindberg will start his fourth consecutive preseason game tonight in New Jersey. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
As Vigneault said, the Rangers continued to make their roster cuts, reducing to just over six forward lines, 12 defensemen and three goalies. With just three preseason games remaining, we’re in the final stretch of roster decisions.
The Rangers assigned five players to the Wolf Pack training camp. Marek Hrivik, Brett Bellemore, Adam Tambellini, Tommy Hughes and Jeff Malcolm all reported to Hartford for their camp.
This will be Tambellini’s first season in the AHL, and he’s one of my favorite prospects. I’m excited to see how he does this season. I’m also happy that Bellemore wasn’t cut from the roster completely. He was pretty good in the preseason game, and has some NHL experience, so it’s nice depth to have. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers Recap: Preseason Game Notes
Bobby Bevilacqua
Viktor Stalberg, Brady Skjei and Kevin Klein all performed well over the first two preseason games. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers officially opened the preseason with back-to-back contests, defeating the Devils 6-3 at Madison Square Garden and falling to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Coming into training camp, it was obvious that the battle for roster spots would be much more competitive than last season. During the 2014 camp, it was pretty clear who would make the team and who wouldn’t.
This year, the Rangers signed guys like Jayson Megna and Luke Adam to bolster their AHL depth, as well as acquiring NHL players in Viktor Stalberg and Emerson Etem. On top of that, their young talent, both on offense and defense, took big steps towards stepping into the NHL.
Who would have guessed it, but the Rangers actually appear to have a plethora of players that can potentially make the NHL roster. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers open up preseason against Devils, lineup announced
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
It’s finally time. After a very long summer of waiting, the Rangers will begin the preseason at Madison Square Garden on Monday Night against the New Jersey Devils. It is the first of six preseason games, and the first of a back-to-back series.
This year’s preseason contains a lot of interesting storylines, with players fighting for roster spots all over the lineup. The first two games will be key for them to make an impact and prove to the coaching staff why they should be on the roster.
Here is the Rangers lineup for Monday’s game against the Devils. Read the rest of this entry
Alain Vigneault: Media Day and Training Camp recap
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
On the first day that the media were able to talk to the Rangers and their coaching staff, head coach Alain Vigneault had a lot to say about the upcoming season, his players and potentially alluding to how he plans on setting the roster.
Throughout the offseason, many people have said that this season will be of utmost importance for 24 year old forward Chris Kreider. He’s coming off of the best season of his young career, collecting 21 goals and 25 assists in the regular season, and adding seven goals and two assists in 19 playoff games.
Now, Kreider is in a contract year, and both he and the team will be looking for him to have a massive year, and for him to be a key contributor throughout the year. And that’s exactly the stance that Vigneault took.
“I look at Chris Kreider, and I believe he can be an elite player in this league,” Vigneault told Jim Cerny of Blueshirts United. “He’s got everything to become a dominant power forward in this league. He’s got almost two full years under his belt, except for a couple of games in my first year. He’s been improving, he’s been taking strides.” Read the rest of this entry
Bold Predictions: The Rangers will have a strong powerplay this season
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers should have a much improved power play for this upcoming season, and Keith Yandle is a big reason why. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Call me crazy, but I think we will finally see the Rangers have an effective and reliable power play during the 2015-16 season.
It seems like every single year, the Rangers sign someone or shake up the power play units in an attempt to start getting more consistent production out of the forwards when they have the man advantage. But every season, they have been unable to do so, failing to capitalize during crucial moments.
Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Rangers have never ranked higher than 17th in the league on the power play, and never posting a percentage higher than 18.2%. In the 2013-14 playoffs, when Alain Vigneault led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers scored on just 12.6% of their power play advantages, which was only 13 goals in 103 power play opportunities. Read the rest of this entry
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