CANTLON: NEW YORK RANGERS MADE THEIR FIRST ROUND OF CUTS 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The New York Rangers made their first round of cuts on Thursday and Friday, sending plenty of players to the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Physicals for these players will be Sunday, with training camp beginning on Monday, with the lineup in flux with more cuts in New York coming until the regular season starts.

Among the forwards returning to Hart City are; Tanner Fritz, Austin Rueschhoff, Patrick Khordorenko, Bobby Trivigno, Alex Whelan, and Cristiano DiGiacinto. Newcomers include off-season signees Zach Jordan and Ryan Lohin. Also making their way to Head Coach Kris Knoblauch’s training camp are Junior draftees Ryder Korczak, Matt Rempe, and Swedish import Karl Henrickson.

Heading to training camp after being sent to Hartford by the Rangers are Defensemen returnees; Zach Giuttari, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, and Hunter Skinner. Newcomers and off-season signees include Louka Henault, Blake Hillman, and Luke Martin.

The club also assigned goaltenders Talyn Boyko, Parker Gahagen, Olof Lindbom, and Dylan Garand.

Unless something unusual happens, the four goalies are earmarked with different destinations. Garand is ticketed for Hart City, while Gahagen and Lindbom are likely headed to the franchise’s ECHL affiliates, the Jacksonville Icemen. Lindbom may go back to Europe or be one of the two potentially reassigned to another ECHL club. Because of his age, the 6’8 Boyko will be heading back to junior and the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) at the end of camp. The NHL contract agreement with the CHL (Canadian Hockey League) mandates that 19-year-olds cannot play in the AHL until their junior season ends.

Newcomer forwards C.J. Smith, Turner Elson, defenseman Andy Welinski and returning top player Tim Gettinger must pass through waivers before they can be formally assigned to Hartford.

Adam Edström, a 21-year-old, 6’4 center, heads home to play for Rögle BK (Sweden-SHL) on loan from the Rangers. Surprisingly, also sent to Europe was last year’s first draft pick Adam Sýkora. He also returns home to play for HK Nitra (Slovakia-SLEL) on a loan basis. The thought was that the 18-year-old, the first overall selection in the CHL Import Draft, would be heading to the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Brennan Othmann was returned to juniors and the Flint Firebirds (OHL).

The Wolf Pack’s roster currently has four goaltenders, seven defensemen, and thirteen forwards. Several of these assignees will be heading to Jacksonville with only so many openings for GM Ryan Martin and limited ice time available for the recently arrived Knoblauch and his staff to carry on the roster.

Monday, the team will release the training camp roster. As of late Friday, the team was still finalizing those players they will invite to camp on Professional Try-Out contracts.

Given the collapse in the second half of last season, this training camp in Hartford is expected to be highly competitive with a comprehensive screening of the competitors.

The Rangers presently have 34 players still in training camp, including 20 forwards, 11 defensemen, and three goaltenders on the roster.

Another round of cuts is expected either late this weekend or as late as mid-week after the team plays in Boston against the Bruins. A final cut to get to the CBA-mandated roster of 23 and keep within cap space compliance will occur just before the season starts. Final rosters must be submitted by October 9-10 to certify all contracts.

The Rangers will likely go with 22 or 23 players depending on those two factors’ status.

Several players are informally skating at the XL in preparation for the opening of training camp. Ice was laid down ice last week.

The Wolf Pack will have a closed-to-the-public exhibition game next Thursday in Bridgeport against the Islanders and then have a game against Bridgeport at the Koeppel Community Center at Trinity College next Friday (6 PM). It will give fans their first look at the Wolf Pack as part of the Annual Ryan Gordon Foundation event with a suggested $5 donation.

NOTES:

The Rangers have already sent two players back to juniors. Bryce McConnell-Barker was sent to Sault Ste. Marie (OHL), where he had current new Hartford assistant coach Jamie Tardif as his assistant coach last year.

Also returning to junior hockey is third-round-draft-pick forward Jayden Grubbe. He goes to Red Deer (WHL), where he will captain his Rebels team again for the second year in a row. He is WJC eligible, whose 20th birthday is a week after the tournament ends.

Former Wolf Pack/Bridgeport Sound Tiger Matt Lorito and his wife are expecting their first child shortly, so his next hockey destination is on hold. Instead, expect he will likely head to Europe as an injury roster replacement/last import quota player.

Jake Elmer is the only other ex-Wolf Pack from last season who is still waiting on a new destination. He is said to be unofficially heading to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in South Carolina, the former ECHL affiliate for Hartford.

Released and assigned to AHL camps were ex-Pack’s Ty Ronning (Minnesota-Iowa – AHL), Darren Raddysh and Daniel Walcott (Tampa Bay-Syracuse-AHL), and Peter Diliberatore (QU) and Mason Primeau, nephew of ex-Hartford Whaler Keith Primeau, who both head to (Vegas/Henderson-AHL).

After singing with Adirondack Thunder (ECHL), Luke Stevens (Yale) signs a training camp try-out PTO with the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Palm Springs)-AHL and Callum Booth (Salisbury Prep) (Seattle/Coachella Valley-AHL).

Goalie Spencer Knight (Darien/Avon Old Farms) signs a one-year ELC contract extension with the Florida Panthers.

Jeff Kubiak was sent to Bridgeport by the New York Islanders. They signed Matt Maggio, a fifth-round Islanders draftee this past summer in Montreal, from Windsor (OHL) to a try-out PTO deal. He is a younger cousin of former Sound Tiger and Ranger draftee, the retired Daniel Maggio. He signed a provisional contract with the Adirondack Thunder (ECHL) to cover his bases last week.

Another junior PTO signee for Bridgeport is Daylen Kuefler from the Kamloops Blazers (WHL).

Shane Sellar (Canterbury School-New Milford) signs a try-out deal with the Hershey Bears and already has a contract with the Reading Royals (ECHL) to start the year.

AHL players to Europe have risen to 108 as ex-Pack as Josh Wesley, the son of former Whaler Glen Wesley departs the Springfield Thunderbirds for HC Litvinov (Czech Republic (Czechia)-CEL). He is the first Thunderbird from last season to go to Europe, and now 29 of 31 AHL teams have lost at least one player overseas.

Former Wolf Pack Tyler Brown is named scout for the Barrie Colts (OHL) covering the GOJHL after being the head scout last year for Stratford (Ontario) Warriors (GOJHL) and was a regional scout for Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL) as well.

If this report from Eliott Friedman of Rogers SportsNet is on the mark, the NHL and AHL future will change in a big way salary-wise in two years. He is usually very accurate with such info.

The league’s salary cap, which will set a record of $82.5 million this year in the 2022-23 season, could rise around nearly $10 million over the next three years, sources told Friedeman and SportsNet, the Canadian TV rights holder. However, teams have reportedly been given guidance on the cap’s future, and upward is the word.

Our long-time source confirmed this is the word on the street.

“I’ve heard its going up, how much and when, I’m not sure, With the TV deals kicking in, the money will start coming in.”

According to Friedmann, the cap could elevate another $1 million in 2023-24, then jump up another $4 million in each of the following two seasons.

That would place the spending limit at approximately an astonishing $92 million by 2025-26.

In addition to the cap, the NHL will have a spending floor, which is $61 million this year. That would primarily affect the Arizona Coyotes, who will play at the new 5,000-seat college-level ASU-Arizona State University Mullett Center starting this year for the next three years. How they can exist in that world is anyone’s guess.

“I don’t have first-hand knowledge. In the short term, they’re staying in Arizona in Phoenix. Long-term, they have challenges as they always have. Some of this is above my pay grade. If all goes well, you’re still looking at five years for this team. They’re committed to the (ASU) arena for three years, and IF Tempe approves their new building plan, and that’s not a given, a new building will still take two years to build, despite the good weather for construction out there.

The other factor is fielding a competitive, winning team, which they don’t have presently. The current new building handicaps them from signing free agents.

Players want to be paid, and they want a winning team, and they will wrestle with that, and that’s part of the equation going forward,” remarked our source, who requested anonymity.

The league instituted a $39 million cap for the 2005-06 season. However, the cap has risen steadily before freezing at $81.5 million for the three pandemic-affected seasons, beginning with 2019-20.

The NHL hit $5.2 billion in revenue last season on the strength of the new media deals as they returned and finally had a full schedule. The league took in $5.1 billion in revenue 2018-19, and the escrow is still a thorny and complicated issue.

Disney, owners of ESPN/ABC, is paying the league $400 million annually, while Turner Sports, the other holder of the US broadcast rights, is forking over $225 million per season. Both were seven-year deals signed last year.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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