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Rangers in Canada's Capital to take on the Senators, cap rising, schedule |
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The Rangers head north of the border to take on the Senators tonight. New York comes into the contest off a pair of victories this past weekend and sit 18-4-1 on the year. Following tonight's matchup, the Blueshirts are off until Saturday when they face the Capitals.
Lines:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Brodzinski
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Bonino-Wheeler
Vesey-Goodrow-Pitlick
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Scratches: Jones
LTIR: Chytil, Kakko
Jonny Brodzinski is appearing tonight in his fourth game since his promotion and second on the top line. With four assists in his last two games, Brodzinski has earned a little bit of equity with coach Peter Laviolette, building on his training camp performance. With Filip Chytil still sidelined and Kaapo Kakko out long-term, Brodzinski has clear path to retain his role spot, even if not his line placement.
Per the below, which is slightly dated, Brodzinski has until December 17 before he has to pass through waivers if he is sent down. If the Rangers are using cap relief from placing Kakko on LTIR, that changes the equation slightly. But if the tweet below remains accurate, with the Rangers off from Wednesday to Saturday, the Rangers should send Brodzinski "down to Hartford" in a paper move, if that would reset the clock, to buy additional time for him to remain on the roster and for Chytil to return.
NHL Cap rising: I think we all were hoping for a bit more of a bump given the flat cap the last few seasons. A $4.2 million rise is nice, but the Rangers will still need to perform cap gymnastics again this offseason. Is Kaapo Kakko a goner? For how long and how much are Braden Schneider and/or Ryan Lindgren re-signed? Is Barclay Goodrow bought out? The rise in the cap assists with some of those decisions but the flat cap from recent years has depressed salaries to a bit and kept New York tight to the number, resulting in difficult decisions.
From Eric Engels Sportsnet.ca column:
Commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly will only be made available for comment after Tuesday’s meeting, but it’s anticipated they’ll confirm then that the players’ debt to the owners from the losses incurred during the pandemic has now been fully paid off, thus eliminating escrow and allowing for the cap to rise by five per cent—from $83.5 million to $87.7 million for the 2024-25 season.
NHL schedule - the Rangers play their third game in four days tonight, then have three days. After that time off, the team then skates on back-to-back nights. This comes after five days off from Nov 12 to Nov 18, after which New York played on the 20th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 27th and 29th. The Blueshirts had two days off, then once again played on back-to-back nights. The best way to describe the schedule is schizophrenic. Why have five days off in November that is not your actual break? Why have three days off this week but then have to play another back-to-back over the weekend as they did the prior weekend? No rhyme or reason to the schedule.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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