While the New York Rangers will have newly acquired Patrick Kane in the lineup tonight, the Bllueshirts will be shorthanded again after the NHL declined their emergency call-up request.
Patrick Kane skated with the New York Rangers for the first time since he was traded on Tuesday night from the Chicago Blackhawks. Head coach Gerard Gallant confirmed that Kane would be on the line with Vincent Trockeck at center and his former teammate Artemi Panarin on the opposite wing.
The excitement of having Kane play his first game with the team was dampened by the news that the NHL has declined the emergency call-up the Rangers were desperate to use for tonight’s game.
The team has been short-handed since last Saturday when Ryan Lindgren suffered an upper-body injury against the Washington Capitals. The following night, K’Andre Miller received a match penalty and was subsequently suspended for three games (tonight will be game two of the three).
PuckPedia.com indicates the Blueshirts have $1,608 dollars in cap space. They used 11 forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies in last night’s overtime against the Flyers and had hoped to call up a player for tonight’s game.
Rangers beat writer Colin Stephenson tweeted the situation early in the afternoon. The decision is strange because, in the CBA agreement, the team does qualify for the emergency call-up. The league has not said why the request was denied, so the team will have to play short again and deal with the problem after the game.
Mollie Walker of the NY Post gave some clarity to the situation,
“Per source, NHL found that the Rangers essentially created the emergency recall situation. They were in a roster emergency with Lindgren injury & Miller suspension before acquiring Kane, but had accrued enough cap space at the time to address it by making regular recalls. Instead, Rangers chose to address roster emergency by adding Kane and as a result, used all their cap space. Since they essentially put themselves in the man-short situation by adding Kane, league did not approve Rangers for the emergency recall.”
Kane is Excited to be in New York
Following the team’s practice at Madison Square Garden, he spoke with the media for the first time since the trade was made.
“It’s been a whirlwind past week. Now I’m just excited to get to the rink. Probably more nervous than I’ve been for a regular season in a long time, but that’s a good thing.”
Mercogliano
Of course, the conversation came up about his playing with Artemi Panarin. The two were teammates prior to Panarin’s trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets in June of 2017 after two seasons with the Blackhawks. He had this to say about them reuniting,
“He’s a fun guy to be around. I’ve definitely missed that. Today, we just picked up right where we left off. Hopefully, it’ll go that way on the ice.”
When asked about staying with the club beyond this season, he is a UFA, the superstar was reluctant to commit to any decision right now. He was just happy to be with the team.
Showtime on Broadway tonight is the beginning of what Rangerstown hope will be a long road to June with the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994.