Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rangers Off to Europe

The New York Rangers made their last couple of cuts before they headed off to Europe on Monday night, as they sent both Andre Deveaux and Andreas Thuresson down to the AHL, rounding off their roster to 33 players, including the injured Marc Staal, who actually is staying in New York to deal with the last of his post-concussion syndrome symptoms.

The Rangers will be allowed to carry an excess of players through their European trip, to save on any extra costs that may occur due to injury, as they open the season in Stockholm, Sweden against the Los Angeles Kings.  The team will only be able to dress the game maximum of 20 players at once, but the extra bodies around is a comfort for these travelling teams.

Below is how the Rangers line-up currently looks with their extra players:

ForwardsDefenseGoalies
Brad Richards85Dan Girardi35Henrik Lundqvist100
Marian Gaborik75Marc Staal25Martin Biron10
Ryan Callahan60Michael Del Zotto25
Artem Anisimov55Michael Sauer15
Brandon Dubinsky50Ryan McDonagh15
Derek Stepan40Steve Eminger10
Brian Boyle35
Wojtek Wolski35
Mats Zuccarello35
Brandon Prust30
Erik Christensen30
Ruslan Fedotenko20
Sean Avery20
Mike Rupp15
Dale Weise15Tim Erixon15Scott Stajcer5
John Mitchell5Dylan McIlrath10
Kris Newbury5Brendan Bell5
Ryan Bourque5Stu Bickell5
Carl Hagelin5Blake Parlett5


With Staal being out of the line-up, I think it is fair to believe that Tim Erixon and Dylan McIlrath will be pushing for the 6-7 spots on the blueline, as they have been all training camp.  Erixon, the more offensive of the two, will likely get the extra push, but that's just a guess on this end.  Erixon may be a good pick for the draft, especially if the draft gets deep.

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