With the team being cut to 23 players, the Rangers’ roster appears to be set for opening night and for at least the first 10 games of the season. However, one question that still remains is: What lines will head coach Tom Renney implement?
At the beginning of training camp, the word around Rangers camp was that Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr would be paired on the first line with either Marcel Hossa or Nigel Dawes. However, Dawes was sent down and Hossa didn’t click with Gomez or Jagr during the pre-season.
It should also be noted that Gomez and Jagr didn’t exactly click either and that Gomez actually had more success with Brendan Shanahan. It has gone as far as Renney inserting Gomez between Sean Avery and Shanahan.
With that being said, here is what your offensive lines should look like come opening night:
Martin Straka-Chris Drury- -Jaromir Jagr
Sean Avery-Scott Gomez-Brendan Shanahan
Ryan Callahan-Brandon Dubinsky-Petr Prucha
Marcel Hossa-Blair Betts-Ryan Hollweg/Colton Orr
The Rangers’ defense also appears to be set as the team has decided to give standout prospect Marc Staal a chance to play on Broadway. The pairings could look as follows:
Michal Rozsival-Marek Malik
Daniel Girardi-Fedor Tyutin
Paul Mara/Jason Strudwick-Marc Staal
Extra defenseman: Jason Strudwick, Thomas Pock (for now)
With all that being said, I’m sure we’ll see Renney adjust the lines on more than a few occasions.
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