With just one week until the 2024/25 NHL regular season, the New York Rangers have good news and bad news.
The good news is that they look strong with a 4-1 preseason record with two contests against crosstown rivals remaining before their season opener on October 9 at another rival in Pittsburgh. The bad news? They've got two reasonably good players out with lower body injuries, namely defenseman Ryan Lindgren and unfortunately, Artemi Panarin. Yes, the Breadman himself. That's not someone the Blueshirts can go without for long.
On top of that, Lindgren also leads the Rangers on defense, making up one-half of New York's dynamic defensive duo, the other half being the always-star-level Adam Fox. With Lindgren out, there do exist a couple of options for the Rangers to use in case Lindgren misses the start of the regular season, which might happen since Lindgren is listed as week to week.
The most likely scenario will be another young star, K'Andre Miller, taking center stage on the Rangers' top D-line. He is currently posted on the left side of New York's second D-unit with Jacob Trouba and has the talent to make up for what might be lost in Lindgren's absence. And unlike Trouba, who struggled mightily through most of 2023/24, Miller had himself another solid year and is still a very young 24-year-old.
Playing in 80 regular season games saw Miller log 8 goals and 22 assists for 30 points; among Rangers defensemen, that was third behind veteran Erik Gustafsson (31) and Fox (73). For the record, Trouba only posted 22 points in 69 regular season games.
Another young defenseman that could serve as a viable third option for replacing Lindgren for the time being is prospect Zac Jones, who had good numbers through 54 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack, while also playing in 31 NHL games with a pair of goals and 7 assists. The more the 23-year-old Richmond, VA native plays in 2024-25, the more goals and points he could rack up.
Of course, he'd have to work a bit harder, seeing as he's the lead third line defenseman and not higher on the depth chart, especially since he hasn't played in the Rangers' last three preseason games either. The point is though is that Jones is there and ready for his big shot.
There is one more prospect that New York could use if they had to go bottom of the barrel. Victor Mancini, a three-year Nebraska Omaha veteran and current Hartford defenseman could also be on the Rangers' shortlist for emergency defensemen. It might be more unlikely for him to make the roster compared to Jones, but you just never know with some players. Especially the ones that have as much junior level hockey experience under their belts as Mancini does.
The Rangers kick off the regular season on October 9th with a visit to Metro Division rivals Pittsburgh at 7:30 pm in the Wednesday evening primetime slot. Their home opener is the following weekend as newcomers Utah visit the Garden for the first time in their franchise's history, with that game scheduled for Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.