The New York Rangers began their training camp on Sunday with a day of off-ice workouts at their Tarrytown, NY training facility.
When the workouts concluded, head coach David Quinn held his first press conference of the season which had some interesting takes with regards to the lineup and how the coaches planned on utilizing the unusual two-week training camp.
The defense pairings will start with Jacob Trouba with Anthony DeAngelo, who will be switching to the left side for the foreseeable future. Adam Fox will once again start training camp with his partner from last season Ryan Lindgren.
Tony DeAngelo will start camp on the left side alongside Jacob Trouba, per Coach Quinn.
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 3, 2021
That means nine defensemen will be battling for two starting spots and positions on the taxi squad. Brendan Smith and Jack Johnson should start as a duo, but Libor Hajek, Darren Raddysh, Tarmo Renuanen, and K’Andre Miller will be looking to knock one or both of those two out of a starting spot.
Miller is being looked at to make the team out of camp with him receiving high praise from general manager Jeff Gorton during his zoom conference on Saturday morning with the media.
Gorton said of Miller,
“He’s got a great chance and we’re looking forward to seeing him”
Jeff Gorton talks about K'Andre Miller's chances of making the team:
"He's got a great chance and we're looking forward to seeing him" pic.twitter.com/Bc6tiQRjT0
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) January 2, 2021
Centers In Battle
The centers are at the forefront during this camp with the team looking to solidify the bottom two players at that position. Rangers beat reporter Vince Z. Mercogliano tweeted Quinn said, “they’re going to try different line combos on different days to see how they look. Gave us that heads up that, just so they don’t disrupt things, they’ll start w/ Howden as a placeholder in Mika’s spot between Kreider & Buchnevich.”
Howden appears to be in a battle already with Morgan Barron for the fourth line center position with both players getting extra ice-time with center Mika Zibanejad out with an undisclosed injury, The team has him listed as day-to-day.
Mercogliano also stated that first-round draft pick Alexis Lafreniere would start camp on the left wing with Filip Chytil centering and Julien Gauthier on the right side.
Coaching Strategy
Rangers broadcaster John Giannone tweeted Quinn’s view on how the coaches will need to handle camp and the challenges that stand in front of them,
“Managing the limited number of practices. Keeping people fresh and in great shape [in] the condensed training camp. Says it helps that Rangers have more continuity/stability in the lineup than last year’s camp.”
The players will hit the ice for the first time on Monday with group A skating at 10:30 a.m. followed by a scrimmage between group A and B at 11:30 a.m. and concluded with group B skating at 12:30 p.m.
Group A (on-ice session beginning at 10:30 a.m. and scrimmage beginning at 11:30 a.m.):
8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jacob Trouba
17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Kevin Rooney
20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Chris Kreider
21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Brett Howden
22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Anthony Bitetto
25Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Libor Hajek
26Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tim Gettinger
27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jack Johnson
37Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Gabriel Fontaine
40Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Alexandar Georgiev
43Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Colin Blackwell
44Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Darren Raddysh
47Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Morgan Barron
48Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Brendan Lemieux
76Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jonny Brodzinski
77Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tony DeAngelo
80Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tyler Wall
89Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Pavel Buchnevich
Group B (scrimmage beginning at 11:30 a.m. and on-ice session beginning at 12:30 p.m.):
10 Artemi Panarin
12 Julien Gauthier
13 Alexis Lafrenière
16 Ryan Strome
23 Adam Fox
24 Kaapo Kakko
28 Anthony Greco
31 Igor Shesterkin
32 Adam Huska
33 Phillip Di Giuseppe
42 Brendan Smith
46 Brandon Crawley
51 Tarmo Reunanen
55 Ryan Lindgren
72 Filip Chytil
79 K’Andre Miller
82 Patrick Khodorenko
85 Austin Rueschhoff
97 Matthew Robertson