John Tortorella wanted to trim the roster down quite significantly prior to the club's European trip later in the week. They did just that with the teams' first round of training camp cuts on Saturday.
Back to the Ranger's AHL Affiliate, the Connecticut Whale, are goalies Cam Talbot, Jason Missiaen and Chad Johnson; defensemen Lee Baldwin, Collin Bowman, Sam Klassen, Tomas Kundratek, Jyri Niemi, Jared Nightingale, and Pavel Valentenko; and forwards Johnathan Audy-Marchessault, Jordan Hickmott, Tommy Grant, Tayler Jordan, Kale Kerbashian, Chad Kolarik, Matt Rust, Chris McKelvie, Scott Tanski, Kelsey Tessier, and Jason Wilson.
Seven players were also returned to their CHL clubs. Among those players were defensemen Peter Ceresnak of the OHL team Peterborough, Samuel Noreau of the QMJHL's Baie-Comeau, forwards Shane McColgan who returns back to Kelowna of the WHL, J.T. Miller goes back to Plymouth of the OHL, Christian Thomas returns to Oshawa of the OHL, Andrew Yogan join Peter Ceresnak back in Peterborough, and Michael St. Croix returns to his WHL team Edmonton.
Among the NHL hopefuls still in camp, to name a few of the prominent ones, are Tim Erixon, Ryan Bourque, Carl Hagelin, Scott Stajcer, Dale Weise, and Dylan McIlrath.
My quick take on the first round of cuts, with more cuts expected later in the week (most likely Tortorella will only want to take one forward, one to two defensemen, and one extra goalie as extras who are hoping to still make the team). Expect Carl Hagelin, Dylan McIlrath, Tim Erixon to be among the Ranger's contingent to fly out to Europe with one or two more players possibly joining the fray depending on injuries and who continues to impress.
First an foremost in these first round of cuts is the surprising fact that Pavel Valentenko was sent back this early. Last training camp VTank, as he is affectionately called by fans, was one of the last players remaining in camp. Impressing coaches with his booming shot, big hits, and solid defensive play. From all accounts he was uninspired in training camp this year, and really didn't look impressive in Friday's game against the Devils.
J.T. Miller was also surprising to be sent back already. He had a very impressive camp and was doing great things on the ice. It appears as though the Rangers really didn't want him to miss significant time with his OHL team starting up this weekend and wanted to get him into as many games as possible.
Lastly, Christian Thomas was a tad disappointing this training camp. Coming off a 50 goal campaign for his Oshawa OHL team, Thomas struggled to stand out and unfortunately goal scorers are expected to score goals. Thomas couldn't really take advantage of his booming shot, several times having it shot wide or be blocked. Thomas will need to strengthen up before he is ready to make an impact at the NHL level.
Dylan McIlrath has been very impressive both in the Traverse City Tournament and in training camp. He has stuck up for his teammates, as well as played solid defensively and shown the ability to throw big hits. His makes really have been few and far between. Carl Hagelin has opened a lot of eyes with his blinding speed. Hagelin can be used in multiple roles and is really effective in all of them--thus lending himself more time to be noticed in training camp and possibly make the team.
When Marc Staal got hit by his older brother Eric in a game late February he really didn't think much of it at the time. However, over the summer Marc began to realize that he would get headaches every time he tried to work out and push himself. Marc has been on the ice and reports say he has been cleared for contact, but with several tests slated over the last couple, and next couple, of days the Rangers have decided not to have Marc fly with the team originally to Europe. The team will reevaluate him over the next 4-5 days and will make a decision then. The Rangers really don't want to rush him, and it is still possible he will play the club's first two regular season games in Europe, however if they need to let him miss the games then it would be perfectly understandable since the Rangers have a week off after those two games.
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