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One thing is certain. If you are watching tonight’s preseason tilt between the New York Rangers and the Islanders you are a true member of the Blueshirts faithful.  Aaron Judge’s quest to top Roger Maris is pretty compelling television and the Giants’ hope for a third win in a row on Monday Night Football is tough competition for a mostly meaningless hockey game.  But, if hockey is your thing, we will resume our live message board during the game and you can comment below during the game.   Welcome back!

It’s been 106 days since we saw our heroes play, though it feels like 500.  The storylines are many, though the game itself promises to be ragged.   The lineups will be a mix of veterans, rookies, and wannabes.  Here’s a guide to some of them:

The rookies

These rookies are destined for Hartford (Bobby Trivigno, Gustav Rydahl, Dylan Garand), junior hockey (Brennan Othmann), or Europe (Adam Sykora).   While there is a slim chance that Rydahl or Othmann could make the big club, they would need to really impress, so this game is important to them.  Rydahl is a 28-year-old Swedish veteran who has never played on the smaller North American ice surface.  Othmann is too young to go to the AHL so he faces another season in the OHL, a league he has clearly outgrown.  Dylan Garand will be a top goalie for the Wolfpack along with veteran Louis Domingue.

Wannabes

The wannabe on the forward lines is Jimmy Vesey, here on a Professional Tryout.  He had three productive years in New York, last playing for the Rangers in April 2019. Since then he has had stops in Buffalo, Toronto, Vancouver, and New Jersey and he could be an interesting veteran option for New York.

It’s on defense that it gets interesting.  29-year-old Andy Welinski is an NHL veteran (46 games in three seasons) who should be in Hartford when the season starts. It’s a big game for Libor Hajek and Zac Jones who will be fighting for the sixth slot on the starting defense Braden Schneider’s partner.  Although Schneider has said he doesn’t consider himself a lock, there is no way that he hasn’t got a job sewed up.

It will be fun to watch the two Ryans, Carpenter and Reaves who are up for fourth-line roles.  While there is little doubt that both will make the final roster,  Carpenter has the edge as he is a center.  Reaves will be keeping an eye on Jimmy Vesey who could take away some of his playing time if he makes the team.

Of course, the most attention will be on Vitali Kravtsov who will play in a Rangers uniform for the first time since he scored against the Bruins on May 8, 2021.  He has to be a complete bust this preseason to not make the team.  He has to clear waivers to go to Hartford and that just won’t happen so if he doesn’t make the varsity his future would be completely unclear.

New York Rangers projected lineup

Here is the Rangers’ projected lineup:

20 Chris Kreider – 93 Mika Zibanejad – 24 Kaapo Kakko
26 Jimmy Vesey  – 72 Filip Chytil – 74 Vitali Kravtsov
48 Bobby Trivigno – 22 Ryan Carpenter – 75 Ryan Reaves
78 Brennan Othmann – 15 Gustav Rydahl – 38 Adam Sykora

79 K’Andre Miller – 8 Jacob Trouba
45 Brandon Schneider – 6 Zac Jones
25 Libor Hajek – 37 Andy Welinski

31 Igor Shesterkin
98 Dylan Garand

The Fishsticks

The big news for the Islanders is the coached debut of Lane Lambert.  He’s a close buddy of Gerard Gallant and was his teammate with the Red Wings in the early 1980s. Lambert played 18 games for the Rangers in 1986-87 after coming over from Detroit in the trade that made Kelly Kisio a Blueshirt.

Not that you care, but here is the projected lineup for the Islanders:

11 Zach Parise- 13 Matt Barzal- 37 Simon Holmstrom
27 Anders Lee – 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau- 26 Oliver Wahlstrom
32 Ross Johnston- 14 Andy Andreoff-15 Cal Clutterbuck
47 Jeff Kubiak- 54 Cole Bardreau- 49 Arnaud Durandeau

28 Alexander Romanov – 8 Noah Dobson
2 Robin Salo – 24 Scott Mayfield
38 Parker Wotherspoon – 7 Grant Hutton

40 Semyon Varlamov
1 Jakub Skarek

How to watch & the live conversation

The game is scheduled to start at 7 pm and it will be televised nationally on the NHL Network and locally on the MSG Network.

Blue Line Station’s live thread is active now and you can comment and converse with your fellow Ranger fans throughout the game in the comments section below.  We’ve all been waiting a long time for this game and there will be a lot to talk about.