New York Rangers: The boys are back in town

It is officially go time for the New York Rangers with the preparations for the 2019-20 NHL season officially underway.

Yes, we can all rejoice because we are on the cusp of hockey finally returning and the New York Rangers are now getting back down to work ahead of what they hope will be a significant turning point in this rebuild.

Tuesday was a good day for Blueshirts fans who, with many probably still recovering from the Labor Day Weekend, were boosted by the activity on the Rangers’ official Twitter channel.

Giving us the content we’ve been longing for all summer and satisfying those serious hockey cravings, we were treated to images of Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba and Artemi Panarin all on the ice together in pristine white New York Rangers training jerseys.

It was a glorious sight and it also served as a tantalising taste of what is hopefully to come throughout 2019-20 as we gear up for what promises to be one of the most exciting seasons in the recent history of this storied franchise.

Now, you could mistake this column for pure hyperbole but you can’t blame us for getting all excited over one informal practice. Because, let’s face it, as action-packed and thrilling as this off-season was, it was still a long old slog without any meaningful hockey action.

There were also some familiar faces on show in Henrik Lundqvist, Brady Skjei, Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider, and seeing those crowd favorites were like greeting a dear friend you haven’t seen for a while. It was a sweet moment.

Vitali Kravtsov was also pictured and one of the snapshots on the Rangers’ Twitter account displayed a pretty cool moment between Kreider and his new Russian squad consisting of Panarin, Buchnevich and the aforementioned Kravtsov.

You can’t begin to wonder about the damage that could be caused by a top six featuring those players, with Mika Zibanejad and Kakko thrown in for good measure of course. It was also a thrill to see Panarin so buzzed to finally be in New York and a part of this franchise. He certainly seems to be all-in with the Rangers and that should hopefully translate to plenty of good times on the ice.

Of course, there isn’t a lot to be gauged from a few photos and a couple of videos that act as fluffy content fillers, and it isn’t clear who was also in attendance at the skate, although we are pretty sure we caught a glimpse of forward Ryan Strome in one of the videos.

One thing we are pretty confident of, though, is the fact that Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo were probably not present, given that both are still yet to agree to new deals with the Rangers and it remains to be seen whether either of those situations will be resolved before training camp opens later this month.

However, that being said, it was nice just seeing the new boys, headlined by the ultra-bubbly Panarin of course, seem at ease in their new surroundings with some of the old guard also in attendance.

So, although we haven’t learned anything groundbreaking apart from the fact that Panarin is always smiling, we know that the hard work is beginning to get underway which means that we are another step closer to the best sport in the world returning.

And that in itself is reason enough to celebrate.