New York Rangers: Two many players for too few spots

An ugly reality of training camp every single year is the lack of roster spots available. The New York Rangers have a handful of young exciting players that will not make the team because of contract situations and waivers.

If nothing else, the New York Rangers are going to be an interesting team to watch on a nightly basis. The team has a creative group of forwards and a bottom five defense which in conjunction should present the opportunity for lots of high scoring games.

Unlike last year’s team that checked out down the stretch, this group looks driven and has a jump in their step. Through three preseason games, a handful of players have made themselves enticing candidates for the final roster. They range in likelihood from probably (Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson) to I wish you could (Libor Hajek and Brett Howden).

The simple fact is teams have a limited number of roster spots and unless the coaching staff wants to roll with an unconventional lineup, players that have had a strong preseason are going to end up in the AHL or back in junior hockey.

It does not help that the Rangers have a logjam at defenseman and center. These are the two positions in which there is the least flexibility and the most players worthy of a serious look.

In addition to their being too few roster spots for all of the players that have played well, there are other impediments in their way.

The bad contracts

There is no easy way to say it, but the Rangers have boxed themselves into a corner when it comes to defenseman. The team has Brady Skjei, Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal, Brendan Smith, Tony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk, Frederik Claesson, Adam McQuaid and Rob O’Gara vying for roster spots.

Of this small army of defenseman ranging from good (Shattenkirk) to egregiously bad (O’Gara) there are a wide range of skillsets. Logic would indicate that Skjei and Shattenkirk slide into the top pair role being that they are the least terrible of the nine candidates. After that, coming up with any semblance of a depth chart is a crap shoot.

The sad thing is, Hajek has played at a level that should have him in final consideration for a roster spot. But, being that he is waivers exempt and still on his entry level contract, there is no way in which he’ll be dressing at Madison Square Garden come October fourth.

The team also has to deal with the fact that DeAngelo is no longer waivers exempt. Meaning that if the New Jersey native makes the opening night roster, he cannot be sent down to the AHL without clearing waivers. Based simply on pedigree it is hard to believe that DeAngelo would not get claimed.

Having Staal, Smith, McQuaid and Pionk in the mix as well makes for an almost impossible decision. With just three preseason games remaining the coaching staff needs to make a lot of evaluations with very little ice time to work with.

What it all means

On the other end of the spectrum, there is a positive to this problem. To some degree, it means that the front office’s vision for the future is starting to come together. The team has a single forward, Mika Zibanejad, under contract beyond the 2019-2020 season. Aside from the Swede, only Staal, Skjei and Lundqvist are under contract.

That means that the roster is going to have further turn around and more youth integrated. Come the trade deadline this year there could be three or four more roster players traded. That would create the opening for young guys who look the part that do not have a spot yet like Howden, Hajek and Ryan Lindgren.

The hope is that both Andersson and Chytil have forced their way onto the opening night roster with their strong preseason performance. There is a scenario in which the team stashes both away in the AHL to avoid burning a year off of their respective entry level contracts. However, this would be highly unpopular and something that would reflect poorly on the front office.

There is hope on the horizon for the Rangers. It will just take time to get there. Time that the prospects need to develop.