New York Rangers: Training camp roster announced

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