GREENBURGH, NY Development, experience and health are the pillars that lift the New York Rangers as they begin preparations for this season.
The Rangers, who opened training camp Wednesday with tryouts and meetings, enter Year 2 under coach Peter Laviolette after winning the President’s Trophy by setting team records for wins (55) and points (114) in a season. one per Year. 1.
They return 28 of the 35 players who played in at least one regular season game last season; 16 forwards, nine defenders and three strikers. They had 19 of their 23 players dress and/or play in their Stanley Cup Playoffs run, which lasted until Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals before being eliminated by the eventual Cup champion of the Stanley Florida Panthers.
Additionally, everyone is healthy and expected to be on the ice when the Rangers skate for the first time Thursday without forwards Ryder Korczak (upper body) and Riley Nash (lower body). below), who are both Hartford season ticket holders of the American Hockey League.
“Every team starts training camp excited and eager to do big things, have a great season, put themselves in the playoffs, give yourself a chance to win the Cup.” and in the end one team will win the Cup,” said Laviolette. Wednesday. “I think we have a very good team here. I believe in the players we have in the room. I think we can work hard and stand up for ourselves this year like we did last year. We realize there are 32 teams, but I like what we have. They are a great team to work with. ”
Up front, the Rangers added Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick, replacing Barclay Goodrow (waived, claimed by the San Jose Sharks), Jack Roslovic (signed with the Carolina Hurricanes) and Alex Wennberg (signed with the Sharks).
Defensively, they lost Erik Gustafsson (who signed with the Detroit Red Wings), but that means Zac Jones will move from No. 7 to No. 6 and Chad Ruhwedel returns, only now as No. in place of No.8.
Igor Shesterkin remains the No. 1 target. 1 and is arguably the best in the NHL. Jonathan Quick remains a caretaker and leader in the dressing room.
In fact, the carrying of the Ranger team from last season to the beginning of this season has led to the expectation that there will be less battles in the camps for the places of the list. There may be one or two areas where jobs can be won or lost, if there are many.
Bigger stories for them in training camp include individual players taking the next step, like Alexis Lafreniere as he looks to become a star, Kaapo Kakko trying to rebound after a down year and Filip Chytil he just hoped that he would stay healthy.
Lafreniere stepped up as a right winger on a line with Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin last season, leading NHL players with 28 goals, 29 assists and 57 points. He then had 14 points (goals eight, six assists) in 16 playoff games. He is in the final year of a two-year, $5 million contract. A big deal may be around the corner for the No. 1 pick. 1 in the 2020 NHL Draft.
“He’s a very important piece for our team not only because of where we drafted him, but he continues to grow and in our eyes he continues to get better,” general manager Chris Drury said. “I won’t go into the discussion, but it’s definitely a nice little part for us and we hope like Igor. [Shesterkin] I’m here for the long haul.”
Kakko suffered a lower body injury early last season that cost him 21 games. He never looked very accurate and was limited to 19 points (13 goals, assists six) in 61 games after producing 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points in 82 games in 2022-23.
He was even healthy for Game 2 in the conference finals. He finished the postseason with one goal and one assist in 15 games.
Kakko signed a one-year, $2.4 million contract on June 13. It’s basically a testimonial deal.
“He dealt with an injury last year and he didn’t have the best year,” Drury said. “We’re happy to have him back. He’s a good, young, talented player. He’s another guy who had a good offseason. And the first tests look very good. , I think he is determined to prove that last year was crazy and he is determined to have a good year for us.
Chytil has been given a clean bill of health and is headed to training camp, Drury said. He suffered a season-ending upper back injury in Nov. 2 last year and lost the final 72 games before returning to play a minor role in six playoff games. But now he’s on track to become the Rangers’ No. 1 center. 3, possibly with Kakko on his right side.
“There’s nothing stopping him, which is good news for everybody,” Drury said.
Drury’s comments about Lafreniere, Kakko and Chytil are signs of optimism the Rangers have heading into the season.
They know what they have and what they can do, and they live well on top of it.
The only real question is whether they can be better than last season, when they were historically good.
“The goal [last season] it was about always having good days, focusing on winning, trying to get better as the year goes on, trying to win as many hockey games as we can, but we do it with a short attack time each day and do a lot each day,” Laviolette said. “Nothing will change from there. It would be nice to get the same number of wins or more, but there are 31 teams that want to talk about it so it’s better to take it back and keep it very simple, just focus on the day and day, save it. a shorter period of time. That helps us focus on what we are doing in what can be a very long year. ”
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