New York Rangers: Four players worth an invite to training camp

By mid August it is pretty clear where the chips have fallen around the NHL. In the case of the New York Rangers, the team is mired in uncertainty for its final roster.

In putting together an NHL roster, general managers are tasked with finding 21 players worthy of being on a roster at any given time. Of course, three of these players, the backup goaltender, 13th forward and seventh defenseman are only on the team for situational play. The New York Rangers have decisions to make for their personnel when it comes to the the bottom six and seventh defenseman.

Ultimately, the team’s bottom six will begin to take shape during training camp. If the team feels as if its young prospects are ready to play at the NHL level, it will likely expect one of Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson to serve in a top six role to maximize production. If both Chytil and Andersson make the team out of camp, the tweener forwards like Ryan Spooner and Vladislav Namestnikov will slide down to the third line.

At this point in the summer, there are no guarantees as to what an unsigned player can be. Typically a team will invite several players to training camp on a contract known as a professional tryout offer or PTO. These are players that are not promised a spot at either the AHL or NHL level but are eligible to play in preseason games and participate in training camp.

In all likelihood, all four of these players will end up in an NHL camp as they were productive to some degree this past season. The New York Rangers would be smart to consider inviting any of them to training camp.