Position battles
The Rangers appear to be set, barring injury, in most areas. There is wiggle room at the bottom of their depth chart. Kevin Rooney has the inside track to be the fourth-line center, but he is being pushed by rookie Morgan Barron, who played five NHL games and scored one goal last season. Greg McKegg, Dryden Hunt and Julien Gauthier are also in the mix.
Rookie defenseman Nils Lundkvist is trying to earn a rotation spot and has been paired with Patrik Nemeth in training camp. That figures to be the third defense pair behind Fox and Ryan Lindgren, and K'Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba. Jarred Tinordi is expected to be the seventh defenseman, and the Rangers also have Anthony Bitetto, Libor Hajek and Zac Jones pushing.
Most intriguing addition
Goodrow signed a six-year contract after winning the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is arguably New York's most versatile skater. He can play all three forward positions and is expected to play a big role on the penalty kill, like he did with the Lightning. He can chip in offensively too. Goodrow scored 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 55 games last season and six points (two goals, four assists) in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Biggest potential surprise
Blais could start on the fourth line, but the Rangers will be looking for balance and production from each of their lines and he could emerge as a scoring threat. He scored 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 36 games for the St. Louis Blues last season and has scored 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 119 NHL games, all with the Blues. Blais will be relied upon for his size (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and power, but he has the skill to produce offensively.
Ready to break through
The Rangers are going to rely on more offense from Lafreniere and Kakko, forwards who came into the NHL loaded with skill and potential. The opportunity will be there for each of them to drive up his offensive numbers.
Fantasy sleeper
Rookie right wing Vitali Kravtsov (undrafted on average in fantasy) scored 24 points (16 goals, eight assists) in 49 games for Traktor of the Kontinental Hockey League and four points (two goals, two assists) in 20 NHL games for the Rangers last season. He will be competing with fellow young wings Lafreniere and Kakko for top-six and first power-play usage, especially after the Rangers traded valuable right wing Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues on July 23. -- Pete Jensen
Projected lineup
Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Alexis Lafreniere
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Kaapo Kakko
Barclay Goodrow -- Filip Chytil -- Vitali Kravtsov
Sammy Blais -- Kevin Rooney -- Ryan Reaves
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba
Patrik Nemeth -- Nils Lundkvist
Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev
