New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault has met his own timelines throughout training camp. The final measure will be no different.
By Nick Adams
With a 3-2 home victory Wednesday night over the Boston Bruins the New York Rangers completed their 6-game preseason schedule with a record of 4-1-1. A full week of camp remains and while head coach Alain Vigneault has aggressively trimmed his roster to a slim 25 names, his toughest decisions on cuts remain.
Vigneault’s and General Manager Jeff Gorton’s constraints are: time, roster size limits and the salary cap. In accordance with the NHL’s rules, the Opening Day Playing Roster cannot exceed 23 names and must be submitted no later than Monday. The the league’s current salary cap is $71.4MM.
According to Steve Zipay of Newsday, accounting for the salaries of all 20 players assumed to be on the team at this point yields a total of just over $68MM, leaving an approximate margin of $3.5MM within which to accommodate the remaining 2-3 available roster spots.
Vigneault and his coaches are meeting today to discuss the tough calls on who will be cut. The team will travel to West Point on Sunday for its final days of camp.
There are five players contending for two positions. There is room for a thirteenth forward and a seventh defenseman. The players are: Emerson Etem (F-LW), Raphael Diaz(D), Tanner Glass(F-LW), Jayson Megna (F-RW) and Dylan McIlrath (D).
Let’s take a closer look at each:
