Five questions for the Rangers to answer as training camp opens Thursday
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette speaks on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Credit: Corey Sipkin
After bowing out in the Eastern Conference final this past spring for the second time in the last three years, losing in six games to eventual champion Florida, the Rangers head into the 2024-25 campaign looking to take another crack at finishing the job this season and winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994.
Second-year coach Peter Laviolette will have mostly the same group that captured the Presidents’ Trophy last season, but this could be the last year for the group, as salary-cap constraints could force significant changes to the roster next summer. The regular season begins Oct. 9 in Pittsburgh. The preseason opens Sunday in Boston.
Here are five questions the Rangers face as training camp opens Thursday:
1. Will Reilly Smith be the answer to the hole at right wing on the Mika Zibanejad-Chris Kreider line?
The Rangers didn’t have the available salary-cap space to get in the hunt for the biggest names on the free-agent forward market, and so, rather than sign a lower-cost free-agent winger, general manager Chris Drury opted to trade for Smith, the younger brother of former Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith.
Reilly Smith is a 12-year veteran with 213 career goals and 513 career points and was a significant contributor on the Vegas Golden Knights team that won the Stanley Cup in 2023. He had 26 goals and 56 points that season, plus four goals and 14 points in 22 playoff games. He got traded to Pittsburgh last summer and had 13 goals and 40 points for the Penguins last season.
According to his resume, he can be expected to be a 15-to-25-goal, 40-to-55-point guy. At 33, he’s the same age as Kreider and two years older than Zibanejad. That suggests he likely will think the game similarly to those two.
He’s played with enough good players in his career that he’ll understand that he has to contribute to the line — make some plays of his own and look for his own shot — as opposed to simply deferring to Kreider and Zibanejad and waiting around for them to do everything or tell him what to do. He’s been a “plus” player in every year of his career except one, so he’ll probably be defensively sound.
He’s in the last year of his contract, so when the Rangers are looking to shed salary next summer to clear some cap space to sign the likes of Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller, Smith’s salary will be coming off the books.
It sounds as if it should work, but we’ll have to wait and see.
2. Will Shesterkin’s contract negotiations be any kind of distraction to him or the team if it’s not done by opening night?
Shesterkin will be looking for megabucks in his next contract, and the more money he gets, the less will be left under the salary cap to sign everyone else, so this negotiation might not be a snap. Shesterkin and the Rangers have to hope negotiations don’t affect his mental sharpness on the ice.
3. Will Jacob Trouba’s playoff struggles, and all those summer trade rumors, affect his on-ice play?
No way. The 30-year-old Trouba is a consummate pro who has manipulated the system to work for himself and his family to this point. When he wanted to get out of Canada, he got himself traded to the Rangers. And when he wanted to stay one more year in New York, he made that happen, too. So he’ll understand perfectly well that this likely is his last year in Manhattan, and he’ll be OK with that. He’ll play hard, even if he’s relegated to penalty-killing and third-pair duty.
4. Will Filip Chytil be able to make it through the season healthy?
The hit that knocked him out of action for the final 72 games of last season was nothing more than an inadvertent bump. For a player who’s had as many concussions as Chytil has had (reportedly), when the next concussion comes from a routine hit that isn’t particularly hard, that’s a big red flag. He did come back in the playoffs, did take a couple of solid hits and held up fine, so that was encouraging. But lots of people will be holding their breath every time an opponent lines him up in the neutral zone or rams into him along the wall.
5. Is there a realistic chance that young players such as Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard can make the team out of training camp?
Realistically, the odds seem against it. Going into camp, the roster looks pretty well decided, with no obvious open spots, barring some sort of injury. But as is always the case with young talent, if Othmann or Berard or Adam Edstrom absolutely forces his way onto the team, Drury and Laviolette will have to make an adjustment. Will Cuylle made them adjust last season. It could happen again.
Training camp roster set
The Rangers announced their training camp roster and dates on Monday. Sixty-three players (36 forwards, 21 defensemen, six goalies) are attending. Players will report Wednesday, with on-ice practices beginning Thursday.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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