The New York Rangers open up their 2022-23 season in a little over 24 hours. A year of heightened expectations will follow as the team gears up for their battle with Tampa Bay at the Garden on Tuesday.
New York returned to the ice on Monday in preparation for their rematch of the Eastern Conference finals and had a plethora of healthy news coming both on and off the ice.
Rangers Injury Update
Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba, both were battling injuries over the last week, were full participants in practice for the Rangers. Lindgren had been dealing with a lower-body injury while Trouba actually played in the team’s final preseason contest on Saturday.
The return of Lindgren and Trouba means that the defensive pairings appear to all be working together. Lindgren worked with Adam Fox, Trouba with K’Andre Miller, and Braden Schneider with Zac Jones.
It wasn’t all good news for the Rangers though when it came to injuries. New York announced that Sammy Blais will be doubtful for Tuesday’s contest with an upper-body injury.
Head coach Gerard Gallant told reporters after practice that although Blais would be doubtful for Tuesday, the injury was not deemed serious and Blais would be “day-to-day” after.
Alternate captains announced
New York was busy on Monday morning off the ice as well. The team announced that Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Barclay Goodrow will be named alternate captains for the 2022-23 season.
With Jacob Trouba announced as the captain going into the new season, the same alternate captains from the year prior will return.
“It was a good group. You hate to leave out guys and there were a few that were knocking on the door for it.” Gallant added, “I just think last year we had a great group so why would we change it and take it away from those guys.”
Gallant later added, “it takes 23 guys to be leaders in our group.”
New York appears to be going with the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” approach with their leadership group.
23-Man Roster takes shape
The Rangers have been making roster adjustments throughout the last week in sending young prospects to the minors or back to the OHL. A day before the season is set to begin, it appears that the 23-man roster is all but secured.
Matt Bartkowski has reportedly been released from his PTO leaving seven defensemen on the starting roster. Libor Hajek was on the ice Monday morning and is expected to be the seventh defenseman going into the new season.
The latest move comes after Julien Gauthier and Jarred Tinordi were put on waivers over the weekend as well.
Vitali Kravtsov back on the ice
After not appearing in the last preseason game, Vitali Kravtsov was back on the ice and skating with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.
Kravtsov had reportedly been in the coach’s “dog house” after not appearing in the last preseason game and not working with the second-line group over the last few days. It is worth mentioning that Kravtsov had been working after practice with Panarin to improve his shot.
In three preseason games, Kravtsov did not record a point. He was a -2 on the ice in the team’s 5-4 preseason loss to Boston last Wednesday and was on the ice for just nine minutes: the least of any skater for the Rangers.
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