New York Rangers: Four players worth an invite to training camp
Number one: Lee Stempniak
The second player to already have a go around with the New York Rangers, Lee Stempniak is an above average bottom six player. Inviting Stempniak to camp would essentially be inviting a better version of Ward to camp with the hope of him providing support in the bottom six. This past season at age 35, the forward was still effective for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Stempniak played in 37 games this past season for the Hurricanes and posted nine points including three goals. In addition to his relatively average counting stats, the forward was a 55CF% player. That figure would have been far and away the best of any player on the Rangers, so there is clearly a way Stempniak could help the team.
As a perennial trade deadline piece, Stempniak has been around the block in the league. In his 16 year career the forward has played for six different teams and hung around a long time. There is certainly a way in which New York could give him a role in the bottom six and trade him to a contender at the deadline. This would be arguably the lowest risk of the four players being that Stempniak is a proven commodity that is capable of playing almost any role on a team.
Next. The ideal defensive partner for Brady Skjei. dark
The Rangers are in a position to hand out several PTOs in hopes of filling out the team’s bottom six. Ultimately, this could be a moot point if the team’s young prospects prove themselves NHL ready from the jump. But, should the team seek depth on either the blue line, in the crease or at the forward position, there are cheap options available.