The New York Rangers are preparing to begin their training camp which is scheduled to begin next week at their Tarrytown, NY facility.
The Blueshirts will have little time to get their roster in order with their 2020-2021 schedule set to kick off on Jan. 14 with a visit from the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden.
Projected Training Camp Roster/Invitees
Per Capfriedmly.com these are the players currently on the Rangers roster;
Forwards
Artemi Panarin
Chris Kreider
Mika Zibanejad
Ryan Strome
Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Lemieux
Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere
Filip Chytil
Julian Gauthier
Brett Howden
Kevin Rooney
Colin Blackwell
Phillip DiGuiseppe
Defense
Jacob Trouba
Anthony DeAngelo
Adam Fox
Ryan Lindgren
Jack Johnson
Anthony Bitetto
Brendan Smith
Goalies
Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev
Players project to be invited to camp are;
Morgan Barron, Tim Gettinger, Ty Ronning, K’Andre Miller, Libor Hajek, Tarmo Reunanen, Darren Raddysh, Branden Crawley, and Keith Kinkaid.
This would be a good time to remind everyone the Vitali Kravtsov will be unavailable to the Rangers until the conclusion of the KHL season.
The Rangers are allowed to have 36 players in camp with an unlimited amount of goaltenders. The coaching staff will also have to put together a taxi squad to which they will carry until the AHL begins their season sometime in February.
Taxi squads are required to be a minimum of four and a maximum of six players. These players will be with the team for the regular season and will be available should the club need to “call up” a player in the event of an injury or COVID diagnosis.
These taxi squad players can practice and travel with the team, but they will not count against the cap or be eligible to play a game until they are put on the team’s roster.
Projected Taxi Squad
Goaltender Keith Kinkaid is a lock to make the squad as all teams must have three goalies, either one on the taxi squad or three on the team’s roster.
K’Andre Miller, Libor Hajek, and Timo Reunanen along with Ty Ronning, and Morgan Barron.
Once the AHL begins their season, there won’t be a need for a taxi squad, and players who have not made the team’s NHL roster would be sent back to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.
The roster decisions will need to be done quickly and without the benefit of exhibition games. Training camp will be fast and furious as the team looks for skill, performance, and hockey smarts with head coach David Quinn looking to replace players such as Jesper Fast (signed with Carolina) and Marc Staal (traded to Detroit).
The spring to the Stanley Cup Playoffs begins on Jan, 14, but the work to get to opening night is already underway. The success or failure of the upcoming season may rest on the shoulders of kids who have yet stepped on the ice as professional hockey players.