New York Rangers Dog Days of Summer

With August upon us, the New York Sports world has officially entered the dog days of summer. So what is there to look forward to for the New York Rangers?

Welcome to the month of August. These are the dog days. If you’re a New York Sports fan, well, there is very little to get excited for. The Yankees have officially given up on this season and the Mets seem to have taken a step back from last. August is such a sad month unless you a) are a college student heading back to school for the year, b) have an August birthday or c) have the belief that August just means we are a month closer to hockey season.

The eighth month of the year has much more sports entertainment than usual this year, with the Olympics taking place. But it seems that there are more stories coming to light about the people that are not participating than the actual games themselves.

Not to mention that football season does not kick off until late August, or early September, depending on if you watch college football or not. So really what is there to talk about? what is there to look forward to? Well, September 27th is the first preseason game for the boys in blue.

Not sure about everyone else but hockey being nearly a month away is such a great feeling that it makes me want to fast forward to September (or past it) and once again sit down on the couch and listen to Sam Rosen broadcast yet another season.

Still, we must wait so since it is the beginning of August and topics are not all that prevalent in hockey let’s talk about what to look forward to.

World Cup of Hockey:

As a Ranger fan, there is literally so many players that we get to watch play in this tournament that it will be a huge refresher when we are able to get a little taste of these players taking the ice. With five players playing in the tournament it gives Rangers fans many teams that we can root for.

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Derek Stepan and captain Ryan McDonagh will play for team USA and it is pretty clear that Mac is trying to have a season to remember this year after coming off a pretty tough, injury-filled and embarrassing season. Mac told NHL.com  that he is working as hard as ever to get the Rangers back to the elite status.

JT Miller will be playing for team North America U-23 after receiving a contract extension, that seems to be a bridge deal, Miller will be looking to continue to improve play and perhaps playing with the likes of Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid and Dylan Larkin, Miller will be able to take some pointers and continue to grow like he has for the past two seasons.

Honestly, Henrik Lundqvist will be back to his form, I don’t think that playing in this tournament will change anything. For Hank, I am most looking forward to what helmet he will be bringing to team Sweden. While Matts Zuccarello, Team Europe, will be able to play with a top-five center in Anze Kopitar and it will be interesting to see Zucc on a stage with players of this caliber.

Preseason/Training Camp:

I am interested in seeing how the youngsters play. Granted this will be a trial phase. Pavel Buchenevich and Brady Skjei are expected to be impact players this season. There is not much other than seeing Buchi skate and hopefully fly out on the ice and show the skill that he has. While Skjei has been working with captain and alternate captain, McDonagh and Stepan respectively, all summer.

Also as I end this I just want to say, the last time Hank played international hockey the Rangers played in the Stanley Cup Finals another thing to look forward to potentially? October 13th is the opening date and I for one cannot wait for it to start.

Next: New York Rangers Scoring Predictions for the 16-17 Season

This song describes all of us Hockey fans right now, (probably), is an all-time classic.