The New York Rangers are back at Madison Square Garden to play their third preseason game in four nights, hosting the New Jersey Devils. It’s another game featuring a mix of veterans, rookies, and wannabes.
Worth noting is the game will mark the return of Sammy Blais from the torn ACL that ended his season after just 14 games. He will be on the right side of Mika Zibanejad on the top line, his rumored role since training camp began. No slew foots from the retired P.K. Subban in this game.
Also, this game will mark the reunion of the “Kid Line” of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere, and Kaapo Kakko. Lafreniere is supposed to play despite suffering a painful bone bruise on Tuesday when he was hit by a Hunter Skinner shot. If the line picks up where they left off in the playoffs, it could solidify the forward lines. Kakko and Lafreniere are still candidates for the top six roles on the right wing.
The bottom six will be prospect city with only Julien Gauthier with any hope of making the varsity.
The same goes for the defense and in the net as the Adam Fox/Ryan Lindgren tandem and Igor Shesterkin will be the only players who were regulars last season.
Here’s a guide to who will be wearing Blueshirts tonight.
The rookies
Brennan Othmann gets another start after earning first-star honors on Monday. Despite his stellar play, he looks to be destined for another season in the OHL.
A trio of Swedish rookies who all signed entry-level contracts could be worth watching. Karl Henriksson is a center taken in the second round of the 2019 draft (#58). He has played two full seasons in the Swedish Hockey League for Frolunda, but has scored just four goals in 84 games and needs to justify his second-round status. He’s still only 21 years old and could find himself in Hartford.
Olof Lindbom is another second-round pick (#39 overall, 2018) who has yet to live up to his draft status. Hampered by injuries throughout his career, he has played mostly in the second-tier Swedish league. The 22-year-old could stick around in North America, considering the lack of goaltending depth in the Rangers system.
Adam Edstrom is an intriguing player. He’s very big at 6’7″, 220 pounds, and while not a big scorer, he has been a physical third or fourth liner for Rogle and is known as a big hitter. He would bring some size to the Wolf Pack roster.
Another big rookie is defenseman Brandon Scanlin, who was signed as an undrafted free agent last March out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He’s 6’4, 214 pounds, and will play in Hartford where he saw 15 games of action last season.
Wannabes
Julien Gauthier gets his second straight start and he needs to start producing if he has any hope to make the Rangers roster. He did have some nice offensive forays in Boston, but still needs to finish.
Blueliner Matt Bartkowski is a veteran of 256 NHL games and is with the Rangers on a Professional Tryout, hoping to get a contract with the big club. He was a regular for the Bruins and Canucks and the 34-year-old is trying to latch on in New York. This is his first game for the Blueshirts, partnered with LIbor Hajek who is also trying to win the role of a sixth or seventh defenseman.
Hartford bound
Along with the rookies above, there are a few more players destined to play this season in Hartford. Forward Tim Gettinger has had a few cups of coffee with the Blueshirts but will end up with the Wolf Pack after signing a one-year extension. Center Patrick Khodorenko will be going into his third season in Hartford after signing out of Michigan State. 29-year-old defenseman Andy Welinski has played 46 NHL games and will provide veteran blueline depth in Hartford.
Projected starting lineups
After tonight, the Rangers play in Newark on Friday, then are off the schedule until two final preseason games on Wednesday, October 5, and Saturday, October 8. That means they will probably want to field their regular starting lineup in the last two games so the next two games will play a big role in determining who makes the team. Look for a lot of roster cuts over the weekend.
NEW YORK RANGERS PROJECTED LINEUP
20 Chris Kreider – 93 Mika Zibanejad –91 Sammy Blais
13 Alexis Lafreniere – 72 Filip Chytil – 24 Kaapo Kakko
78 Brennan Othmann – 82 Patrick Khodorenko – 12 Julien Gauthier
42 Tim Gettinger – 59 Karl Henriksson – 84 Adam Edstrom
55 Ryan Lindgren – 23 Adam Fox
25 Libor Hajek – 14 Matt Bartkowski
58 Brandon Scanlin – 37 Andy Welinski
31 Igor Shesterkin
60 Olof LIndbom
NEW JERSEY DEVILS PROJECTED LINEUP
90 Tomas Tatar – 56 Erik Haula -49 Fabian Zetterlund
44 Miles Wood – 91 Dawson Mercer – 92 Graeme Clarke
25 Nolan Foote – 20 Michael McLeod – 14 Nathan Bastian
55 Geertsen – 12 Tyce Thompson – Brian Halonen
71 Jonas Siegenthaler – 7 Dougie Hamilton
2 Brendan Smith – 6 John Marino
26 Tyler Wotherspoon – 88 Kevin Bahl
29 Mackenzie Blackwood
40 Akira Schmid
How to watch and 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. FYI…not that it matters tonight, but the MSG folks have renamed MSG Plus as MSG Sportsnet.
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. There are some bugs in the chat and to see new comments you may have to refresh your screen or change the order from newest to oldest to newest again.
It may be the preseason, but with no Yankees or Mets games tonight, what else is there to talk about when it comes to New York sports? Join the live conversation as we speculate about this year’s Rangers.