Vegas bound and other Rangers news

This should be a big week for the NHL and the New York Rangers as a return to play gets closer

The NHL is expected to decide on the two hub cities that they will use when play resumes.  Reports are that the original ten cities have been reduced to six with three in the United States and three in Canada. With Las Vegas the frontrunner for the US. city, it would appear that the New York Rangers could be bound for Sin City as the league would not want the Golden Knights playing at home.

There are numerous issues still facing the NHL, all pertaining to the COVID-19 virus.  On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning shut down their practice facility after it was revealed that three players and several other team personnel had tested positive for the virus.

The Toronto Sun reported that Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews had tested positive, but the team didn’t confirm that.   The NHL announced that 200 players had been tested and 11 had come back positive.  The NHL has 690 players and that could mean about 40 positive cases if the same ratio applies.

Perhaps even more worrisome for the NHL is that hub candidate Las Vegas has seen a sharp increase in the number of positive cases.   There is a growing sentiment that the league may be better off using two cities in Canada where there are fewer cases.

At any rate, the decision needs to be made soon as there are massive logistics that need to be worked out.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported that some additional decisions had come out of a meeting of NHL general managers.  One report was that there would be two weeks of training camp with teams travelling to the hub cities on July 23-24.  Each team would play one exhibition game with the qualifying tournament and round robin games beginning on July 30.

All teams would be allowed to bring 30 or 31 skaters to training camp and 28 to the hub city for the resumption of play.  There would be no limit on the number of goalies. Brooks also reported that coaches will be allowed into the informal voluntary training sessions that began with Phase Two.

All of this means that players will have to start returning to the New York area in order to be ready for training camp.  There are still questions about mandatory quarantine for players who use commercial airlines to get back.

There are additional issues for players on expiring contracts who would need work visas.  Since contracts normally expire on June 30, the league is working to extend those deals as well as any work visa.

Kakko will play if he wants to

Last Thursday, team President John Davidson revealed that Kaapo Kakko has been given the green light to play in the postseason despite the fact that he has Type 1 diabetes. In an interview on the MSG Network  Davidson said that they are looking to have him in the lineup, but that ultimately it is his decision.

Davidson said “We think it’s safe as long as he follows the protocol and we all do too…we understand the whole thing from A to Z. It’s been studied by our doctors in many different forms. If there is a change that comes along and they say we don’t think he should play, he’s not playing. But if they give us the green light and he himself,  it’s his decision remember, wants to play and he talks to his family, he’s playing.”

Kakko’s decision has to be imminent as he would be expected to return to the New York area sometime next week.

The Lias Andersson poll

We conducted an unscientific Twitter poll regarding Lias Andersson turning down an opportunity to come to the Rangers postseason training camp.

We asked fans if they agree with his decision.  The majority of the 56 votes were in his favor, with 43% saying it was his call and an additional 27% saying he was right to do it if it was COVID-18 related. 30% of he respondents felt that he should have accepted the invitation.

Davidson didn’t address the training camp issue, but he did speak about Andersson.   He said that  “he got himself healthy and he played very well.  Reports were terrific.  He got lots of key ice time.  Is it better just  to leave him there for another year or is it better to bring him here and see where it goes. It’s  a tough call but we’re going to try to make the right call as we move forward.”

Speaking of high draft picks, Davidson also talked about Vitali Kravtsov.  Davidson said “He’s gonna come to our camp.  We’ll see how it goes. We’re gonna need some depths and skill as we march along here. We’ll see how he’s matured.  If he hasn’t, we need to find a wyt for him to develop.”  It’s unclear whether the camp Davidson spoke of was the postseason training camp or the camp for next season.  Kravtsov was last seen on a dirt bike in Russia on an Instagram post.

It should be a busy week for the NHL and the Rangers.  We’ll keep you abreast of all of the developments here at Blue Line Station.