The New York Rangers training camp is set to start on Thursday and the team announced which players will be attending.
The New York Rangers officially announced their training camp roster and a preliminary schedule. After two full days of physical exams and on-ice testing, the team will take to the ice with scrimmages this weekend. 56 players are going to be at camp starting Thursday.
The 56 players will be divided into three teams (A,B & C) and they will be assigned different times to be on the ice over the weekend. Most of the names are familiar ones and saw action in New York last season though there are a few players who will be camp hoping to win a contract.
One player who was on the team, but is unsigned is Connor Brickley. He had four points in 14 games for the Rangers at the end of the season after being acquired from the Nashville Predators. The 27 year old forward could end up in Hartford.
Joe Morrow is coming to camp as an unrestricted free agent on a professional tryout (PTO). Originally drafted by Pittsburgh, he has seen action in 162 NHL games with Boston,Montreal and most recently, Winnipeg. He was not offered a contract by the Jets and became a UFA.
Micheal Haley is also on a PTO. Haley was not re-signed by the San Jose Sharks despite seeing action in their Stanley Cup Playoffs run. He’s a tough guy, best know for his penalty minutes and he played a handful of games for the Rangers under John Tortorella.
Older depth players with NHL experience under contract but new to the Rangers who will be at the camp include Phillip Di Giuseppe, Greg McKegg and Danny O’Regan with McKegg having the best chance of sticking with the Rangers. Prospects under contract to the Rangers include Brandon Crawley, Sean Day, Gabriel Fontaine, Ryan Gropp, Dawson Leedahl, Ville Meskanen, Darren Raddysh and Ty Ronning.
Mason Geertsen is a defenseman who was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in fourth round in 2013. He was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Avs and is an unrestricted free agent. He played last season with Colorado of the AHL. He is 24 years old, 6’4″, 212 pounds and the number that sticks out on his resume is the 134 penalty minutes.
Players signed by the Hartford Wolf Pack who will be at camp include Tom McCollum, Vincent Loverde and Francois Brassard. McCollum is a 29 years old goalie cut loose by Nashville who appeared in three NHL games with Detroit over five years ago. He looks to be a veteran goaltending presence to help out in the training camp and to stick with Hartford or Maine.
Loverde, 30, is a defenseman who will provide some experience to the very young blue line in Hartford. He was signed by the Wolf Pack this summer.
Francois Brassard is a 25 year old goaltender who is set to play this season with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.
One reason McCollum and Brassard are at camp is that the Rangers need six goaltenders to play in the scrimmages.
A number of prospects who played in the Traverse City Tournament will be at camp including Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Adam Huska, Nico Gross, Jake Elmer, Patrick Newell, Joey Keane, Matthew Robertson, Nick Jones, Tarmo Reunanen and Yegor Rykov.
Karl Henriksson, who excelled at the tournament, was not listed on the official roster and will presumably be returning to Sweden.
Here are the three squads as announced by the team. Some names were missing from the list including Sean Day and Yegor Rykov, but they were on the official roster.
Finally, both Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux are on the roster though they are both unsigned. They are not allowed to participate in any activities if they are not under contract.
One note on the uniform numbers. Kaapo Kakko has worn 24 while playing for Liiga. That number belonged to Boo Nieves, but he is now listed as number 15. It looks like Kakko will get that number 24 that he wanted.
TEAM A
10 Artemi Panarin
16 Ryan Strome
18 Marc Staal
28 Phillip Di Giuseppe
30 Henrik Lundqvist
32 Adam Huska
37 Gabriel Fontaine
41 Nico Gross
43 Libor Hajek
46 Brandon Crawley
50 Lias Andersson
54 Mason Geertsen
63 Jake Elmer
77 Tony DeAngelo
89 Pavel Buchnevich
90 Vladislav Namestnikov
92 Dawson Leedahl
93 Mika Zibanejad
TEAM B
8 Jacob Trouba
20 Chris Kreider
25 Tim Gettinger
29 Steven Fogarty
34 Patrick Newell
40 Alexandar Georgiev
45 Kaapo Kakko
55 Ryan Lindgren
60 Tom McCollum
64 Vincent LoVerde
65 Danny O’Regan
72 Filip Chytil
76 Brady Skjei
78 Ryan Gropp
81 Ville Meskanen
82 Joey Keane
95 Vinni Lettieri
97 Matthew Robertson
TEAM C
14 Greg McKegg
15 Boo Nieves
17 Jesper Fast
21 Brett Howden
23 Adam Fox
31 Igor Shesterkin
33 Connor Brickley
38 Micheal Haley
42 Brendan Smith
48 Brendan Lemieux
51 Tarmo Reunanen
52 Darren Raddysh
53 Hunter Skinner
59 Ty Ronning
70 Joe Morrow
71 Nick Jones
74 Vitali Kravtsov
80 Francois Brassard