The New York Rangers begin their preseason campaign tonight against the Boston Bruins. An original six clash to start the preseason for the Blueshirts will give the organization an excellent start to their hopeful championship season. Preseason results do not matter for anything but pride, so we are looking for the positives in this performance regarding good things to take away. Winning would be nice for what it means off the ice and away from the roster, but it's pointless for the standings.
We're looking for impressive rookies, solid starts for roster players, and a good performance from the depth. The big one for the Rangers tonight is going to be Filip Chytil. Chytil missed most of the season with concussions last year but returned to aid the Rangers in their playoff push as they tried to make the Stanley Cup Finals. He will look to prove that his health is not an issue this season.
We will get the first look at a Rangers goaltender who isn't having his hand held by guru Benoit Allaire. Allaire took a step back from his day-to-day duties as the teams' goaltending coach but is still involved in the broader array of things and may get involved when things go wrong for certain netminders. Regardless, seeing the performance difference without the best goaltending coach ever will be interesting.
We're also looking at the coaching staff as Peter Laviolette's staff enter their second year behind the scenes in New York. Building from a monumental season last year with success at almost every corner, the Rangers know that they can get into a situation with confidence flying if they can win this battle of the two most recent Presidents Trophy Winners in the NHL regular season. None of the matters for anything else, so let's enjoy some Rangers hockey.