Camp Begins

Camp opens today for the 2022-2012 Rangers.  Because the Rangers took care of business during the offseason, there are no distracting matters hanging over the roster.    They top orders of business will be: finding a Left Wing for Richards and Gaborik;  figuring out the 5th, 6th  and 7th Dmen; and figuring out the third line.

Wolski will probably get the first shot at playing Left Wing on the Richards line.   He's talented enough to make it work, and perhaps his contract status will give him extra motivation.   If not, the Rangers might have to disrupt the 2nd line by using Dubinski on the first. Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko might also get looks.

The candidates for those last 3 d spots are all pretty worthy, with Michael Del Zotto and Tim Erixon leading the way. Emminger, Bell, VTank and Niemi are also in the mix.  Ideally, Del Zotto and Erixon would both make it, with VTank or Niemi as the seventh d.  I know some would rather have a vet like Bell or Emminger, but Niemi and VTank are getting older in the AHL, and it would be good to give one of them a chance.    Another issue could be the Rangers not wanting to pair Del Zotto and Erixon together due to their inexperience.  In that case they would probably send one of them to the AHL, and look for a veteran to pair with the winner.  

Ultimately, I think they should be willing to use Del Zotto and Tim as a pair.   The third pair won play a ton with the 4 stalwarts ahead of them, and it would be good for the power play to have both MDZ and Erixon around.    MDZ and Erixon are extremely talented, and I think they could be protected as they developed.  Otherwise, it might be wise to keep them both, but split up one of the first two pairs to team with the two kids.

Finally the 3rd line is a big question.   It's funny, but for years all we heard about our forwards is that we had a bunch of 3rd rounders, but now we don't have a stable 3rd line.    If Stepan isn't needed to play LW on line one, he will be the C for line three.  After that it gets interesting: Fedotenko, Avery, MZA, Hagelin, Bourque, Thomas and Christensen all competing for open spots.   With a stable 4th line of Boyle, Rupp and Prust, that means, there will only be two spots open for those players.   Now the Rangers can do the easy thing and just use Avery and Fedotenko there, and send the other kids down to the AHL or juniors.   But, hopefully, one of the Hagelin/Bourque/Thomas/MZA group show they would help the team more now.   In reality, they will probably send all of the kids down and trade or dump Erik Christensen.

Overall, Richards and Rupp really improve and stabilize lines one and four.   Line 2 could really breakout with Anisimov, Dubi and Cally, showing great chemistry and production when they were teamed last year.   Line 3 is unstable and will need to be created.

The first two pairs on D, should continue to excel.   Sauer has a little knee thing now and let's hope it doesn't last or become anything more.  Staal, Sauer, and McDonagh all still have upside, so we could see some big steps up from one or all three of them.

Goal is set with Hank and Biron.  

This is what smart rebuilding looks like.  Savor it Ranger fans.