A Rangers update as we get closer to playing hockey again

It’s all systems go for the New York Rangers (so far) as they hope to resume their season on Wednesday in Sunrise, Florida.  It was another day of full practice for the team and there were no new cases of COVID reported by the end of the day.

Patrik Nemeth came off the protocol while Jarred Tinordi went on the list so it looks like the Rangers defense will have much the same look it has had all season except that Libor Hajek will partner with Adam Fox replacing Ryan Lindgren.

It’s an opportunity for Hajek to see more ice time and Coach Gerard Gallant spoke about Hajek after practice.  “He played steady. No mistakes, he played a solid game.  He moves the puck well. Everything we thought we had in the guy, he didn’t get a chance to play early on, it was tough. …we were winning games and we were happy with the lineup.   Now that he got in he’s played really well, nothing flashy.”

It appears that Hajek really was a victim of the health of the defense corps as Gallant admitted that he knew nothing about him and had not seen him play when he took over as coach.   That explains why he might have been more familiar with Jarred Tinordi who did see some early action.

Nemeth also spoke with reporters and when asked about his bout with COVID, he said that he had minor symptoms for a couple days then felt fine until his quarantine ended.

That could be significant as the CDC today announced that they are reducing the isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days.  Here’s the CDC statement: “Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others.”

If the NHL follows those recommendations, considering that many of the NHL players who are in the Protocol are asymptomatic, it could greatly reduce the number of players who have been forced to stay out of action.  No word from the NHL and NHLPA yet and Canadian authorities have not followed the CDC’s guidelines yet.

The Rangers should be ready to announce who they are promoting to their taxi squad sometime tomorrow as those players will be traveling with the team to Florida.

Three more games postponed

The NHL postponed two games scheduled for Wednesday. The games were Chicago at Winnipeg and Dallas at Colorado.  They also postponed a rematch between the Stars and Avalance scheduled for Dallas on Friday.

So far, all games for U.S. based teams traveling to Canada have been postponed.  The Dallas-Colorado games have been postponed because Dallas has added eight players to the COVID list in the last three days.   Eight players appears to be the manage number for causing postponement.

28 NHL players went on the COVID list on Monday with about a dozen coming off.   Florida only has four players out so their game Wednesday with the Rangers is still on.  Tampa has six players so they are close to hitting the magic number and both of their goalies are on the list.

One interesting note on the Tampa roster is that they just called up former Ranger draft pick Sean Day.  He’s a defenseman the Rangers drafted in the third round in 2016 who never got out of the AHL.  He signed last season with the Lightning and this season he has two goals and 13 points in 19 games for the Syracuse Crunch.  He may make his NHL debut Tuesday or on Friday against the Rangers as Tampa is missing Andrej Sustr and Mikhail Sergachev from their blueline corps.

There are three games on the schedule for Tuesday night and seven games slated for Wednesday.

A Ranger prospect scores at the WJC

Only one Rangers prospect was in action at the World Junior Championships and he got on the scoreboard, becoming the first future Blueshirt to score at the tournament.  2021 fourth round pick Kalle Väisänen scored for Finland in their 7-1 romp over Austria.

Väisänen scored six and a half minutes into the second period to give Finland a 4-1 lead.  It wasn’t the prettiest goal as Karri Aho’s point shot ticked off his back and past the Austrian netminder.

If you have a chance to see Finland play, keep you eyes on  Väisänen (#23).  He stands out because of his height at 6’4″.   Though he is on the fourth line, he played 13:52 and finished with three shots on goal.  He’s ready to shoot and he has no issues standing in front of the net.  He also threw some heavy checks in the game versus Austria.

He’s playing regularly as an 18-year old for TPS Turku in the Liiga in Finland after promotion from their junior team. He’s a big right winger worth keeping tabs on who looks to have potential in the Rangers depth chart.

Two games are on the WJC schedule for Tuesday with Brett Berard and Team USA playing Switzerland at 4:30pm and Will Cuyle and Canada taking on Austria at 7pm.  Brett Brochu will get the start in goal for Canada so Rangers prospect Dylan Garand will watch.