If one thing is for certain, the New York Rangers have acquired plenty of new personnel to compensate for this once-top-heavy roster. It’s not just the new names that will be debuting in this lineup, but the unique roles that they bring—adding to a dynamic bereft for physicality and experience.
While things may still remain up-in-the-air in regards to what exactly this roster will be come October, we do know that Gerard Gallant will have an abundance of options to juggle with—specifically on his third defensive pairing.
We expect the top two pairs to remain intact with Norris Trophy sensation, Adam Fox, and his trusty wing man, Ryan Lindgren, followed by Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller. Gallant is left with a choice of Zac Jones, Libor Hajek, Nils Lundkvist, Patrik Nemeth, Jarred Tinordi and Anthony Bitetto to cap off the blue liners.
I would imagine we will see showcases from at least a few of them as the season gets underway. Perhaps some players’ usage will be matchup dependent; perhaps Gallant will take the platoon approach; heck, maybe someone here plays their way into one the top-two pairs.
Let’s look at the Rangers’ options
The front-runner to slot in as a lineup-regular is Nils Lundkvist, who lead all SHL defensemen in goals last season. The 2018 first-round pick is the only piece of upside left from the Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller trade and has great potential to be a power play weapon. He wields a hybrid of cerebral hockey IQ paired with mobile puck-moving skills (sounds familiar to another bright young Rangers defenseman).
Speaking of the trade that began wilting brown the instance it was made, Hajek seems to have run out of rope in opportunity. It’s time to stop forcing a square peg into a round hole and—like Brett Howden—accept that Hajek has played to his potential. As for Bitetto, he served valiant in his limited role last season, but it was never a secret that he was a temporary patch before picking up spackle for the drywall.
Jones’ growth as a Ranger seems to be dependent on Lundkvist. If Lundkvist proves dress-worthy, it doesn’t look as if there is room for Jones in this defensive core, which is why he would make a valuable trade asset. It is a strange circumstance considering he burned the first year of his entry-level contract with the Rangers in exchange for 10 appearances last season.
The 2019 third-round pick amplified his value with two stellar seasons of college hockey—accumulating 35 assists and 47 points at UMass Amherst. All of the sudden, the once puck-moving-defense deprived Rangers have a surplus. Jones and Lundkvist are the obviously most fertile of Gallant’s pool of third-pair choices. But there’s no room for both to grow together given the other pieces the Rangers already have in place—barring a Jacob Trouba trade at some point.
What the lineup does have room for is Nemeth, who played reliable roles with Detroit and Colorado in recent history. The veteran stay-at-home blue liner would provide sound support at the end of the Rangers bench and most importantly—would slot in as a great partner for Lundkvist. The fellow countrymen could build a rapport—allowing Lundkvist to blossom by executing his confident decision-making at the NHL level with the grit and stability of a seasoned anchor aside him.
The addition of Tinordi marks the assurance of equipping the back end with the “toughness” everyone has been so gung-ho about. His appearances seem as if they would be solely dependent on which suspension-prone goons run rogue on the opposing side, but time will tell if the 6’6” brute can bring anything else into Gallant’s fold.
It is without question this core will have the ancillary pieces to display an identity that’s vastly different than last season’s. But how a new coach will employ these choices remains one of several intriguing narratives to begin in October.