Mike Sullivan dropped some major hints during Friday’s practice about what the New York Rangers could look like going into the 2024-25 season.
On Friday, Sullivan split the two practice groups, with the first group consisting of all the established veterans, while the second group was made up of the majority of players who will play in the American Hockey League.
For the better part of training camp, Sullivan hasn’t revealed much about the specific training camp competition, as all of the practice and preseason groups have been mixed with veteran and young players.
However, Friday’s first practice group not only had the majority of players who will be on the opening-night roster, but Sullivan also organized the lines in a very particular way.
Here are the line combinations from the first practice group:
Forwards:
Will Cuylle- J.T. Miller-Mika Zibanejad
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière
Connor Sheary-Juuso Parssinen- Taylor Raddysh
Brett Berard-Noah Laba-Jonny Brodzinski
Adam Edström-Sam Carrick-Matt Rempe
Defensemen:
Vladislav Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Carson Soucy-Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen-Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson-Scott Morrow
Sullivan emphasized that the final roster has not been finalized yet, but he spoke with a tone indicating that these groups do carry some weight.
“That’s an inevitability over the course of the camp,” Sullivan said about splitting the two groups. “These are always difficult decisions as we said to the players. Just because we made these decisions today, doesn't mean they’re etched in stone.
“There are going to be some guys that continue to play, continue to get opportunities to play in some exhibition games. We will watch the rest of the camp evolve, and ultimately try to make the best decisions for our respective players, but also our team. This is just part of the process.”
Rangers' Young Prospects Show Promise In Preseason Loss To Islanders
The New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> lost 5-4 to the New York Islanders on Thursday night in their third preseason game, but that wasn’t the main story.
The most notable shake-up was that Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault played with most of the players set to be with the Hartford Wolf Pack, a sign they both won’t make the Rangers’ opening-night roster.
Another thing to note was that Sullivan was only present during the first practice group session, while the Wolf Pack coaching staff ran practice for the second group.
As we approach the end of training camp, we should continue to get more clarity on Sullivan’s vision for the Rangers and which players will ultimately make the team.