The New York Rangers limp into the sixth official outdoor game facing the Panthers at LoanDepot Park. New York is not only battered and bruised but also dealing with an illness running through the team and enters the game having lost three in a row. Florida is 6-3-1 in their last 10 and may have also gotten a little jolt by seeing Matthew Tkachuk on the ice yesterday for practice and Aleksander Barkov in a knee brace skating a little as well.
Rangers lines and D pairs at Thursday’s practice LoanDepot Park :
Panarin-Zibanejad-Cuylle
Perreault-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Brodzinski-Dowling-Raddysh
Berard-Carrick-Rempe
Gavrikov-Fox
Soucy-Borgen
Robertson-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
- Noah Laba is week-to-week with an upper body injury (likely shoulder).
- Conor Sheary was placed on LTIR with what looked to be a knee injury
- JT Miller practiced in a red non-contact jersey
Because the Rangers have minimal cap space, Brennan Othmann, who may not have deserved to stay anyway, was sent down to Hartford. To replace all the injured and demoted players. Justin Dowling, who played in 52 games for New Jersey last season, Brett Berard, recently sent down, and Anton Bindh, who had a cup of coffee last season with the Rangers, were promoted. The revamped third and fourth lines are above. Lising Sheary takes away some speed and defensive responsibility, hopefully Berard in his 6-7 minutes of action brings energy and a solid forecheck.
Winter Classic Practice Highlights and Information:
I said sixth official outdoor game because the Rangers faced the Kings at Caesars Palace in an exhibition game as the first attempt at an outdoor contest. In “real games,” the Blueshirts are 5-0 while playing at four different venues. Citizens Bank Park (Philly – Henrik Lundqvist stones Daniel Briere on last minute penalty shot), Yankee Stadium (Devils and Islanders – two brutally cold Stadium Series contests), Citi Field (Sabres – JT Miller overtime winner in Winter classic) and MetLife Stadium (Islanders – Artemi Panarin OT game winner after Rangers rally in third to tie the Stadium Series game).
Olympic Rosters:
Team USA – JT Miller and Vincent Trocheck were named, as expected, while we know Adam Fox failed to make the team. All three are head scratching when you consider the forwards that were selected and d-men who were (see list below for the snubs). Plus, it’s interesting that Chris Drury, Mike Sullivan and David Quinn were able to have Miller and Trocheck on the roster but not Fox. I get it’s not an All-Star squad but a team with roles, but please don’t team me Jason Robertson or Cole Caufield or Alex Tuch can’t fit one of those roles. Hoping for a US Gold, but the battle is not harder based on lineup construction.https://x.com/usahockey/status/2007083455805587849?s=20
Team Sweden not surprisingly includes Mika Zibanejad
Team Finland did not select Urho Vaakanainen
Remember the days when the Olympic roster could be stocked with Rangers. Granted, no Russian teams means that Vladislav Gavrikov, Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin are home for the Olympics, which could make them fresher for the stretch run. Beyond that, who would make a team? No Canadians are worthy of that squad or the second team or even the third or fourth one. The lack of elite talent is fairly staggering when you think to what used to be the norm in the organization.
