Happy Boxing Day and the start of World Junior tournament play. Finland faces Germany, Russia takes on Sweden, Czechia plays Canada while the US is matched up against Slovakia. Three of the contests will have a Ranger prospect.
Kalle Và¤isà¤nen (fourth-round 2021) should be on the fourth line for Finland. Will Cuylle is likely to suit up on a similar line placement for the Canadians. As seen below, Dylan Garand gets the nod in net over Sebastian Cossa for Team Canada. The last-minute cancellation of the pre-tourney game between Czehcia and Switzerland cost Jaroslav ChmielaÅ™ (fifth-round 2021) a chance to earn a spot. ChmelaÅ™ was the last cut from Czechia's WJC roster yesterday. For the US, Brett Berard will be on the first line with Matt Beniers.
Dave Cameron announces that Dylan Garand will start for Team tomorrow @TSN_Edge
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 25, 2021
Friday, the NHL announced that the league will delay the return to game play by a day to December 27. The league is expected to provide an update today as to the return to play plans. My gut call, which I have said previously, is that the league will pause until New Year's Day, when the Winter Classic is to take place, to avoid any issues with canceling that contest.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: @NHL delays return to game play by a day; games on Dec. 27 postponed.https://t.co/UX99dQ0tp1 pic.twitter.com/zZRrGjpt7L
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 24, 2021
The Rangers have now officially had four games postponed due to COVID-19. November 20 against Ottawa, November 28 versus the Islanders, which has been rescheduled for March 17, 2022, December 22 against Montreal and now, December 27 home versus Detroit. If the league does wipe out the rest of the week, contests in Miami (Wednesday) and Tampa (Friday) would need to be added to the list to be made up. A postponement of those two games would mean that Rangers return to action with back-to-back rough home games, January 2 at 12:30pm against Tampa and 7pm January 3 versus Edmonton.
Postponed contests are expected to be rescheduled for the period of February 2-23, originally set aside for the Olympics. The NHL said that teams will have at least five days off during that span, adding to the challenge for the schedule makers. The rest that teams had penciled into their calendars have come up a bit early, though impacted by COVID absences.
Whenever play resumes, the key for the Rangers is to hit the ground running, playing as they were early in December. New York should field a full lineup, welcoming back Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin to the mix. Right now, it's wait and see until the NHL announces their plans.