The Rangers announced that Sam Alfano, Maxim Barbashev, Jayden Grubbe, and Bryce McConnell-Barker have been returned to their junior teams. The Rangers now have 62 players in camp.
Vitali Kravtsov spoke, sometimes through a translator, on Saturday and said (NYR):
- Why did you want to get to New York early in the summer, “Well, obviously I was training in Russia with Russian players and their season starts a bit earlier so they leave earlier and I came here so I could actually practice under, like, the eyes of a coach so that a coach could tell me what I’m doing wrong and what I’m doing right.”
- Do you feel comfortable and that an opportunity is there for you, “I’ve always felt great here, I mean, the guys respect me, I’m accepted and I know that everything really depends on what I do and on my work and I don’t really look into tomorrow, just try to focus on today and the work I’m putting in today.”
- What did you focus on in the offseason, “Just more about my mental health and be stronger on the ice and stay stronger on my feet, like quick turns, quick stops. This is so important in this hockey right now.”
- Do you feel you played enough games last year to continue to develop, “I had a few injuries last year, so I couldn’t play in as many games as I would have wanted to, so I definitely had more practice experience then in-game experience, but it is what it is and you just have to keep putting in the work….I’ve definitely fallen out of the rhythm of the game a little bit, but I’m always ready for battle.”
- What is it like to come in and play with Panarin and Trocheck, (translator):“I definitely made a lot of noise previously, so there is kind of this necessity to redeem myself a little bit. But it’s more about putting in the work and it’s not about what anybody says, everybody in the locker room kind of understands what is going on, it’s all about a mutual respect. I just want to do what everyone else is doing, put in the work, get on the team and do my part.”
- Why did you come back to the Rangers, “right after I left last year I talked with Drury and all the games and ….oh, what’s happening on the internet, it’s not always true what’s happened in the locker room and I just….(translator) I didn’t really want to voice what was going on outright last season, didn’t want to answer those mean comments on the internet. My agent and Chris Drury knew what was going on, kind of the people who needed to be in the know were in the know. I didn’t want to make it public and at the same time 85% of what was being said on the internet wasn’t true.”
- Do you think you see the game in a similar way to Panarin, “actually, not at all, he’s much better than me (laugh). I try to learn a lot from these guys when I play with them, when I get the puck I always have noise behind me or somewhere they always like open up for me, so it’s like much easier to play me them. (translotr) It’s easier for me to play with them than it is for them to play with me.”
Gerard Gallant spoke on Saturday and said (NYR):
How does Sammy Blais look, “he looks great, great shape, been 10 months since he played, he worked really hard and everything is going according to plan right now. No issues with him and he looks really good on the ice.”
Is there a middle place for how Panarin plays and how you’d like him to play, “I had no issue with him last year, none at all. I like the way he plays. He talked a little bit about it, when we talked earlier this year, probably 2-3 weeks ago we had a little chat and he said ‘I want to be around the net more’ and I said “that is what we want.’ He talked about Columbus and when he played some of his best hockey and I’m not going to take anything away from his game. I want him to play, last year he had a good year and we were really happy with him. He wasn’t as happy in the playoffs with some of his games, but playoffs are a different level and you gotta ramp up your game and he probably said that he didn’t ramp up his game enough, but he still played well, I still liked the way he played. He’s a talented player, makes great plays, and great passes and he’s playing with good people on his line. I”m not going to tell him he has to play up and down, I want him to play his game, that is why they got him here in NY. Obviously, the little things I want from him is to work hard defensively, come back like everybody else comes back defensively and I’m not saying he didn’t do that, I’m saying that there is nothing different, he gets the puck and I want him to be creative, make plays and that is what he does. There is no big secret on our systems, everybody plays the same way, everybody doesn’t play the same way and I see that.”
What can Shesterkin do for an encore, “same thing (laugh) play the same way.”
Are you busting Kreider’s chops to score 52 again, (Smile) “Do what you did last year (smile), he was great, he played well, but you gotta score the first one before you score 52. He had a great year, outstanding year, just don’t change a thing, play the same way.”
Is there anyone through three days that has surprised you, “No, everyone came in good shape, we got reports from our medical staff and everybody is good and working hard and, like I said, these three games are fun, play some scrimmage games, I thought they worked hard, there were no fights, no big hits, nobody got hurt, so I think the first part of training camp is pretty much over. Tomorrow we’ll have three practices and then we get into the exhibition games and so that really tells the story. But I’m satisfied with everybody, everybody came to camp in good shape and worked hard, so nobody is standing out… maybe one guy, Hunt is standing out a little bit, I think he’s looked really good.”
Artemi Panarin spoke on Saturday, through a translator, about the playoffs, his style and his game and said “Definitely I need to bring back the game that I used to play for two years in Columbus and the first year on the Rangers where it was more puck game, more movement. Kind of recently I’ve been more focused on the wing and its easier for everybody else to play with me in that sense, but I really need to start being everywhere and doing everything…and this change of style definitely will help me progress as a player, definitely make it more difficult for the opponent to figure out our game and it will help my teammates obviously, because previously it was more of a game of throwing the puck down the boards, it was a really simple game that was easy to figure out and my teammates weren’t developing as much as they should be.
When asked if he played he way he wanted to play in the regular season and not the playoffs, or if he needs to bring that style to the regular season as well, Panarin said (translator) “there were definitely good parts during last season, but obviously things in my life happening and I was trying to find my way between all of those difficulties. I’d say that there were probably 15-20 good games in the main chunk of the season, but by the end I started getting into it a lot more, getting the puck behind the goalie and the playoff was a bit more unfortunate, there were a few unfortunate mistakes that I made that probably shouldn’t have happened….my game definitely looked not as satisfactory as it should have in the sense that I did want to do better, but we were losing quite often in the series, the score was not in our favor, so I had to go and take risks for the team and when those risks didn’t pan out, then it looked as if I did basically nothing the whole time….you are losing confidence when you take the risk and it doesn’t pan out, it just makes it even more difficult to play, especially when those mistakes lead to goals for the opposing team.”