ON THE MOVES
Rangers’ final roster decisions complicated by Blais injury
The Rangers’ and their ho-hum 2-4 record through the preseason are likely itching to get to opening night on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, where they will poetically kick off the 2022-23 season against the very team that ended their prolific run to the conference finals four short months ago, the Lightning.
Training camp was conventional, with a couple standouts, but the Blueshirts have looked like a team that’s had Oct. 11 circled on the calendar since that Game 6 loss in Tampa Bay in mid-June. The feeling of unfinished business is palpable, and the sooner they can start working toward their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup the better.
Before the Rangers can take the ice on Tuesday, however, at least three more cuts have to be made. With 26 players remaining on the roster, the Rangers can also trim it by four to carry a roster of 22 for salary cap purposes, but Sammy Blais’ recent injury could weigh in on the club’s final decisions.
Blais left Saturday night’s 3-1 loss to the Islanders after absorbing a hit from defenseman Alexander Romanov, who was fined $5,000, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, Sunday morning for charging Vincent Trocheck. The Rangers said the winger suffered an upperbody injury after only logging 3:22 of ice time.
“They’ll evaluate him tonight and tomorrow,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “He should be fine.”
There is a scenario in which Blais, who missed a majority of last season with an ACL tear, could be put on injured reserve to start the season. The Rangers would then definitely carry 23 players. Blais and his $1.525 million cap hit would still count against the cap, and he’d have to miss a period of no less than seven days, retroactive to the date he was put on IR.
Even if Blais is ultimately good to go, the Rangers’ decisions on the final forwards are going to be a numbers game, as Gallant put it early on in training camp. Vitali Kravtsov, who didn’t play in the last preseason game and is still noticeably adjusting to the NHL, is essentially a lock to make the opening-night roster. Since he would have to pass through waivers to be assigned to AHL Hartford, the Rangers likely don’t want to risk losing their 2018 ninthoverall pick for nothing.
After Jimmy Vesey traded in his professional tryout for a one-year deal on Sunday, that leaves Dryden Hunt as the odd forward out. But since the Rangers didn’t put Hunt on waivers, there might be another move in the works, such as Blais to IR. Julien Gauthier was waived on Sunday, according to CapFriendly, and will likely be assigned to AHL Hartford if he clears.
Vesey replaced Kravtsov on the right wing of the second line with Trocheck and Artemi Panarin the last few days, but he also logged some time on the top unit with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. There have been highs and lows throughout his PTO with the Rangers, but Vesey’s veteran status and penalty-killing abilities clearly set him apart.
If the Rangers do need to replace Blais, who was on the fourth line with Ryan Carpenter and Ryan Reaves on Saturday night, Hunt may be the most logical choice. Gallant has taken a liking to Hunt since last season, when the 26-year-old winger appeared in 76 of 82 games for the Rangers. Gauthier has had a pretty good camp, but the fact that the club clearly does not see him as a topsix option has seemingly sealed his fate.
As much as personnel is up for debate, so are the actual combinations. The Rangers are seemingly still figuring out who their top two right wingers are, in addition to evaluating the Panarin and Trocheck duo. Panarin and Trocheck didn’t produce a single goal in the preseason, and they didn’t end the slate of exhibition games on the best note.
“I made quite a few mistakes throughout the three games,” said Trocheck, whose turnover resulted in an Islanders goal in the first period on Saturday. “Luckily, it was preseason and I was able to learn from them. It’s different coming into a new system. Defensively, I was a little lost out there on a few plays. It’s nice to be able to actually make those mistakes and kind of learn from those before we get into the regular season.”
➤ Brennan Othmann was named this year’s Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award winner, which is given annually to the top Rangers rookie in training camp as selected by the media. In four games with the Flint Firebirds since he was assigned to the Ontario Hockey League after training camp, Othmann already has four goals and four assists.
Jimmy Vesey parlayed his professional tryout into a second act on Broadway.
The Rangers signed Vesey to a one-year, $750,000 deal on Sunday, the team announced, marking the 29-year-old’s official return to the organization he called home for the first three seasons of his NHL career. The winding road back to New York may not have always been kind to Vesey, but the winger should be able to find a role with a Rangers team that has legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
Having spent time on nearly every line this preseason, Vesey most recently skated on the right wing of the second line alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. He also got a look on the top unit with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. While Vesey may not be the long-term answer for the top six, the penalty-killing specialist has shown he’s capable of being plugged into multiple spots in the lineup.
“We expected that
[of Vesey],” Gallant said of Vesey scoring a goal and two assists early on in preseason.
“Once he signed a
PTO here we knew he’s a good player and what he did last year.
Obviously, he’s in the mix with those guys.”
The Rangers won the Vesey sweepstakes back in August 2016 after he declined to sign with the Predators, who drafted him 66th overall in 2012, and the Sabres, who acquired his signing rights in hopes that they could lock him up before he became a free agent. All the pomp and circumstance, however, set up lofty expectations that Vesey simply couldn’t fulfill.
Buffalo again acquired Vesey in July 2019 before he signed a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs in October 2020. After he was put on waivers from Toronto, Vesey was picked up by the Canucks. He ended up playing for four different NHL clubs over the span of three seasons. In 2020-21, Vesey combined for five goals and five assists in 50 games between the Maple Leafs and Canucks.
Vesey signed a professional tryout contract with the Devils last season and turned that into a one-year, $800,000 deal. He appeared in 68 games for New Jersey and posted 15 points (eight goals, seven assists).
“Obviously, we know him, we’re familiar with him,” Chris Drury said at the start of training camp. “He’s familiar with us. Guys that played here you tend to track a little more and our guys, meaning our scouts, had a lot of interest in him coming in. I think where he’s at in his career and the things he was able to do really well for Jersey last year excited us. Bottom six, big guy, good player, had a really good year on the PK.”