Reports from the 1st day of training camp

The 1st day New York Rangers training camp concluded with some observations from players and coaches

The first day of training camp is over and there has been some clarification about the roster situation.  Reporters were allowed to observe practice after health checks and Vince Mercogliano of Lohud.com filed a full report. 

All reports on the practice are as to be expected.  The team is happy to be on the ice and they have expectations of playoff success.    There are no answers when it comes to the goaltending situation with the decision to be made based on what the coaches see in these practice sessions.  No one has been ruled out and all of the goalies are practicing with expectations of getting the starting job.

New York Rangers team president John Davidson had a press availability that you can watch on the MSG Network website.   Davidson did say that there has been no word from the league about Brendan Lemieux’s suspension. He said “We’ve reach out and they said they’ll get to us. …this is a very strange time…we’ll adhere as a group to what the league tells us.”

While Davidson was optimistic about the Rangers he noted that the benefit of playing in the postseason is the primary benefit for the team.  He pointed out that a turning point in the season was after the Rangers 4-3 loss to Calgary in January. At that point, the team decided to focus on defense and their season turned around.  Let’s not forget that was also around the time that Igor Shesterkin came up to the NHL.

Quinn on the practice

Coach David Quinn spoke about the first day of practice and offered a pretty honest assessment.  He said “I thought we were dialed in mentally, obviously It wasn’t pretty a lot of the times, it’s your first day back… they were trying to do the right thing, maybe their hands, their head and their feet weren’t working as one as they normally do in February.  I thought our guys did a real good job trying to do the right thing…games are going to be won between not and August first and I think our guys truly understand that.”

Quinn also addressed the goaltending situation. “A lot is going into this decision, because of the unique circumstance. I spoke to all three of them about how important these three weeks are going to be. Then again, it’s not just these three weeks, there’s a lot to take into consideration.”  He cited Henrik Lundqvist‘s career success and how they all played this current season.  He did say that of all the roster decisions, the next three weeks will be most “pivotal” for the  goalie situation.

Lundqvist spoke about the situation. The veteran goalie said that he is taking it week by week and can only focus on what he can control, the physical, technical and mental aspects of the game.

As for practices, Quinn said that considering each players’ individual situation, it will take some time to determine the lineup.  He conceded that after a four month layoff, the players are all in different stages of preparedness.

Perhaps most interesting is that Quinn said he is not considering these practices, but more of a “third season.”  He also said that they are not preparing specifically for the Hurricanes, but are more focused on issues the team may have.

Quinn and Davidson confirmed that Gord Murphy will be replacing Lindy Ruff on the coaching staff for the postseason.  Both pointed out that Murphy is very familiar with the Rangers’ system and knows the players from the preseason.

Zibanejad on the return to play

Mika Zibanejad also spoke to the media after practice.  Zibanejad had been the hottest player in the NHL at the time of the pause and is looking forward to picking up where he left off. He was asked if it was a matter of being on a hot streak or an elevation of his overall game. Zibanejad said it was a season-long process.  He said “I want to say it was the whole season, I took another step from day one….obviously everything was highlighted at the end…I felt that everything went in.”

While Lundqvist said that he has been skating for a couple months, Zibanejad said that he had been on the ice three times before returning to North America, but had been active with workouts, soccer and tennis.  He did admit that the hardest part was the uncertainty. He was definite about the team’s aspirations.  “When we came back, we’re not here just to participate and just be another team, we’re here to win. Obviously we’ll take it game by game, series by series. We’re here to win and we’ll do everything in our power to do so.”

Roster clarifications

The team was split into two groups for the practice session.  The first group was made up of the players who were on the team at the time of the pause while the “Black Aces” for this postseason run was made up of the call-ups.

K’Andre Miller will definitely not be on the postseason roster.  His Entry Level Contract is for the 2020-21 season and the NHL is not allowing anyone with that kind of contract to participate.  That means that the 31 man roster is set.  With 33 players in camp, Adam Huska and K’Andre Miller are the players who will not travel to Toronto.

Here is the full training camp roster:

Goalies (4): Alexander Georgiev, Adam Huska, Henrik Lundqvist, Igor Shesterkin

Forwards (19): Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Jesper Fast, Steven Forgarty, Julien Gauthier, Tim Gettinger, Micheal Haley, Brett Howden, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Chris Kreider, Brendan Lemieux, Vinni Lettieri, Greg McKegg, Danny O’Regan, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad

Defensemen (10): Brandon Crawley, Tony DeAngelo, Adam Fox, Libor Hajek, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Darren Raddysh, Brendan Smith, Marc Staal, Jacob Trouba