3PM: The Rangers have sent down Will Cuylle, Ty Emberson, Tim Gettinger, Lauri Pajuniemi and Andy Welinski.
They have 29 players left in camp:
Forwards (17): Sammy Blais, Jonny Brodzinski, Ryan Carpenter, Filip Chytil, Julien Gauthier, Barclay Goodrow, Dryden Hunt, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafrenière, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Reaves, Gustav Rydahl, Vincent Trocheck, Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad
Defensemen (9): Matt Bartkowski, Adam Fox, Libor Hajek, Zac Jones, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider, Jarred Tinordi, Jacob Trouba
Goaltenders (3): Louis Domingue, Jaroslav Halak, Igor Shesterkin
2:53PM: Gerard Gallant spoke on Saturday and said (NYR):
- Are you definitely going to carry 23 players, “could be less than that, very possible it could be less than that. We’ll see, we have a week, week and a half to make that decision.”
- On the discussions he and Drury have about how many players to carry, “I’m not worried about it, really. The less players I got around the easier my decisions make (laugh). It’s about health and everything and cap space and all that stuff so there are lots of different reasons why you talk about that number, but really, that number doesn’t bother me.”
- Are there 3-4-5 roster decisions you still have to make, “it won’t be that many. That is the tough part. I mean, there is a spot on the blue line and probably a spot in the forward group and a lot of guys are probably fighting for those spots. It’s a battle and you keep working hard and playing well and make our decisions real tough. It’s no different than probably most of the teams in our league.”
- Are Goodrow and Blais interchangeable on the top line, “for camp, for sure. We’ll see where it goes. You look at some obvious spots and you want to give people opportunities and Blais has played one hockey game in 10 months, so give him an opportunity to play and see how things shake down. I can’t honestly say that is going to be a line right now, but we’ll see where it goes.”
- How did Chytil look playing back-to-back, “He looked great. We went over it today, it was a hell of a game by our team last night. The first game was a great game and last night, I thought, was every bit as good as that. We had all kinds of scoring chances and played real well and after a stinker the night before, we played great last night. It was good and Fil played back-t0-back, Gauthier played back-to-back and Gauthier had about six scoring chances that he couldn’t bury, but he made some great opportunities at the net. And Bartkowski played back-to-back and they all played real well.”
- What is Gauthier’s status right now, “He’s on our team. He’s a guy that had a great camp, he’s had a great camp this year. As you guys all know, you see our roster and they gotta battle for those spots and he’s one of those guys in the mix. There is no surprise, our team is a real good hockey team and we got better and our young players are real good, so there are a lot of guys fighting for spots on the fourth line and that opportunity.
- Do the practices this week matter, or just the games, “It’s just the games and let’s face it, we’ve got tough decisions to make, Dru’s got tough decisions to make as a staff and a group and there are going to be some good players that aren’t going to make our hockey team and that is the way it works. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a tough problem. We’ll see where it goes and how guys shake out. It’s exactly, when camp started, that is how you thought it would shake down, but the closer it gets the tougher it gets.”
- Has Vesey complicated things because of how well he’s played, “Same way, we expected that. Once he signed the PTO, we knew he was a good player and what he did last year and obviously he is in the mix with those guys.”
Louis Domingue was placed on waivers. (Lavoie)
The forward lines used today at practice were (Stephenson):
- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Barclay Goodrow
- Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Vitali Kravtsov
- Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko
- Jimmy Vesey, Gustav Rydahl Jonny Brodzinski/Julien Gauthier
- Sammy Blais, Dryden Hunt, Ryan Carpenter, Ryan Reaves
Libor Hajek was paired with Braden Schneider and Zac Jones was skating with Jarred Tinordi and Matt Bartkowski. (Stephenson)