Team: 2018-19 New York Rangers

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 26, 2018

Published: Jul. 27, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Lines as shown reflect not burning a year off of either Chytil or Andersson. They'll get their # of games depending on their play, and should play when they are Fully showing they are ready.. unless the Rangers really want to try and accelerate this rebuild and start one or both opening night, at the risk of losing confidence in two very young talented possible future NYR stars. (They shouldn't rush an 18 and 19 year old in Year 1 of a rebuild) Hayes/Skjei get their matching 5 year deals probably both between $5-5.75m AAV each. Spooner I feel may get the old NYR 'bridge contract' for 2-3 years around $2.5-3m AAV. Also the lines below are obviously not accounting for any 1-year fill in contracts/players we may add before the season starts. So just on working with what we have.. KZB Rangers #1 obvious, can't mess it up, better not mess it up, 1st line. Throw Hayes with Zucc on the 2nd line along with Vessey giving him another year to mature and grow as a player alongside Zucc's experience, well at least for as long as Zucc is a Ranger. 3rd line has Namestnikov/Spooner at C, either are interchangeable for the 3rd or 4th line, though the Rangers may want to use Namestnikov as a LW instead and that would move Spooner up to C the 3rd line, with Fast, every Ranger fans loved workhorse, giving the 3rd line for what it is.. a '3rd' line.. that quality young hard working two way player any club values having. And that leaves the 4th line which most likely will be fill ins we sign ( ex. Desharneis last year) and the guys we have on walk years or closest to having to pay them, ala Boo Nieves, Lettieri, possibly Ryan Gropp? I'd like to see what any of these 3 could do with an extended lineup stay.

For the D pairings we're obviously most likely looking at Shattenkirk and Skjei, I Truly hope they are given the amount of time needed to gel and get in sync, if they are allowed to do that this year they definitely have the talent to go with offensive playmaking ability in Shatt and the defensive zone shutdown play in Skjei to possibly become one of the Top D-pairings in the league. 2nd line will probably have Staal alongside him I'd prefer to see Deangelo, that would give you Staal/Zucc leadership/experience/two zone play, to go along with Vessey/Deangelo's youth/talent/ offensive upside ability. 3rd line would leave Smith trying to regain his 4.4 AAV form, one can only hope, paired with Pionk, who any Ranger fan is hoping can be possibly a 'mini' Skjei in terms of year over year talent growth shown. Though swapping Pionk/Deangelo could form a decent 2nd pairing if Pionk does show that talent jump during the year. And for the 7th/Press box Dmen we're probably looking at you again Kampfer, sharing the role with at times/injuries the likes of Claesson, Gilmour, O'Gara. With as I said all of the young talent receiving time on the Garden ice during the year and using tons of call ups to see what they got in the system... Chytil, Andersson, plus the likes of Sean Day, Hajek, and Howden, which honestly all 3 I'm excited to see more of.

In goal it will be the One and only, King, Henrik. Backed up by Georgiev, til next year when Igor Shestyorkin comes across the pond from SKA, and gets his year or two under one of the games greatest to ever be between the pipes in Lundqvist.


As for the extras.. Power Play Lineups/Penalty Kill, they are pretty straight forward, they'll change throughout the year but KZB with either Namestnikov/Spooner and Shattenkirk quarterbacking seems like a pretty damn good PP1 unit to me. Followed by Hayes/Zucc and whatever combo of Vessey/Spooner/Namestnikov/etc is to be had with Skjei getting some more PP TOI opportunity this year. Penalty kill is a little more unsure in my opinion, there are many combos Quinn can go with, and will probably try. But Zibanejad/Zucc have always been great at playing both zones, though not wanting to wear them down all season long should be kept in mind. Same as them but to a lesser quality degree is Hayes/Fast. I'd also be interested to see what changing the Penalty Kill D pairings may do. Skjei with Pionk may be something that could eventually turn into a true shutdown PK D-pair. Though Shatt and Staal will get their time on the PK, I rather see Shatt rested more often for 5on5/PP TOI then killing penalties, and Staal can be a real problem at times with his lack of speed. Giving Smith time to regain his form or even Deangelo the opportunity to expand his play may be best this season, for a season of truly finding what works and what Wins for the future.


This year should 100% be about seeing what the kids got. period. Talent, who has it, who truly has it, and what players work well together. Even with signing Skjei/Hayes/Spooner and a couple fill ins, we still should have about $5-8m in cap room, so anything is possible this year as far as trades/cap dumps/draft pick adds goes. And who knows, maybe somehow Rangers fans get lucky, and all this youth/talent takes root a couple years early, one can only hope right!

SO. That's my current take for the NYRs as it's mid off season and we have just over 2 months until the 2019 seasons starts! From your fellow life long New York Rangers fan...
GO RANGERS! NYRangers FAN 4 LIFE!