RANGERS ROSTER READY

The question has been answered as to who will make the Rangers and who is headed back to Hartford.

No big surprises. The Rangers reassigned defensemen Brian Fahey and Corey Potter. They’ve held onto Miika Wiikman for now. He will probably be reassigned once the team arrives back from Europe. The only possible reason that they could extend that is if they are unsure of Henrik Lundqvist’s knees which, if the persistent rumors are correct, are believed to be a bit tweaked.

The moving of Fahey and Potter back to Hartford is the right thing to do. Tom Renney, in previous statements to the press, has mentioned that a possible seventh blueliner would probably see only 20-25 games of action. For these two young men to develop they need to play more. Both played well with the varsity, but neither will develop to their full potential watching games in the press box. Both need to play and play regularly. Considering that both would be safe if they went up or down on recall, means it makes perfect sense to let them play in Hartford and bring them up when they need be.

Here is the official release.

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has reassigned defensemen Brian Fahey and Corey Potter to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Rangers now have 24 players on their opening night roster, including three goaltenders, six defensemen and 15 forwards. New York kicks off their 2008-2009 regular season schedule tomorrow, October 4 at 12:00 PM EST when the team faces the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Bridgestone NHL Premiere in Prague, Czech Republic.

PLAYERS REASSIGNED TO HARTFORD (AHL) ON 10/3/08:
Defense: Brian Fahey and Corey Potter

NEW YORK RANGERS OPENING NIGHT ROSTER:

Goal: Henrik Lundqvist, Steve Valiquette and Miika Wiikman

Defense: Dan Girardi, Dmitri Kalinin, Paul Mara, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, and Marc Staal

Forwards: Blair Betts, Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Dan Fritsche, Scott Gomez, Lauri Korpikoski, Markus Naslund, Colton Orr, Petr Prucha, Patrick Rissmiller, Fredrik Sjostrom, Aaron Voros, and Nikolai Zherdev