4 New York Rangers to watch during 2024-25 Training Camp – Hockey Writers – New York Rangers

With training camps about to start around the NHL, the start of the season is getting closer. For the New York Rangers, they enter another season where the main goal is to win the Stanley Cup and end a 31-year drought. For this to happen, they need to build the best possible roster starting with training camp and see which players fit in there on the roster.

While the Rangers will have the same lineup as last season, they have made several new additions this offseason and will be hoping to fight for a roster spot early in the season. In this clip, we'll take a look at four Rangers to keep an eye on as training camp continues.

Reilly Smith

After the Rangers missed out on signing a high-profile free agent, they turned to the trade market and acquired Reilly Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins. He spent one season with the Penguins after being traded there from the Vegas Golden Knights after winning the 2023 Stanley Cup. Smith never seemed to fit in with the Penguins and had a down season offensively, scoring 13 goals and recording 40 points in 76 games played. In his final season with Vegas, he scored 26 goals and had 56 points.

Smith will likely get the first chance to play on the right side on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. He is the next of many who have played in the area over the years. It will be interesting to see how he fits and plays with them as training camp goes on and hopefully he can build chemistry with Kreider and Zibanejad because he can't, the Rangers don't have many other options to fill that spot. . Smith will have to take this opportunity and run with it and show that the drop in production last season was a mistake.

Kaapo Kakko

A player many thought wouldn't be here at the start of the season, Kaapo Kakko is entering his final season with the Rangers. After getting a chance to play the first six minutes last season, he was unproductive and was dropped from the lineup before the injury. He played a third line role all season and was completely ineffective offensively. Many thought he would have been traded last season, but instead he received a one-year deal to prove he could be more for the Rangers going forward.

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Kakko is expected to start again on the third line alongside Filip Chytil and Will Cuylle. If he can show he can produce bottom six players to start the season, maybe he can make a top six appearance again. This is really his last chance to show that he can be more than what he has been because if he doesn't it will be his last season at Rangers. That would be a really disappointing end to a promising player who was so talented.

Brennan Othmann

One of the top players in the Rangers fighting for a roster spot in training camp is Brennan Othmann. Selected 16th overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, he has been improving every year, and has worked his way toward this opportunity. He played three games with the Rangers last season, but he wasn't getting enough ice time and didn't really show off his skills. He scored 21 goals and had 49 points in 67 American Hockey League games with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He has attacking talent and now, he needs to prove that he deserves a permanent place at Rangers.

He brings speed, skill, and physicality to his game. Even though he is not a great player, he plays with a lot of heart and is willing to throw his body around and even get into fights if necessary. He is a true competitor and could be one of the Rangers' remaining players when training camp comes to a close. Like Cuylle did last season, Othmann will have to find his place with the team and there is a good chance that it will happen.

Zac Jones

After losing Erik Gustafsson in free agency to the Detroit Red Wings, the Rangers opted not to sign another NHL-level defenseman. This showed that they have full faith in Zac Jones to take that spot and become a full-time NHL defenseman this season. He was the seventh defender last season and only played when other players were injured. In the 31 games he played, he scored two goals and recorded nine points. He is an offensive player and sometimes not good on the defensive side of the puck, but now he has a chance to work on both of those parts of his game and show that he is a good fit for this position.

He is expected to start in the defensive third team with Jacob Trouba and this could be very good for him. Trouba played with K'Andre Miller when he first arrived in the NHL and helped Miller make the perfect transition to playing at the highest level. Although Jones is not a rookie, he has yet to play much at the NHL level and Trouba would be the perfect mentor to help him; Jones can continue to play his offensive game while Trouba stays back and remains a hard-hitting, shutdown defender. This could end up being a great matchup for the Rangers if they work well together.

While there will be many players to watch during practice, these four players have something to prove heading into the season. They have to find their spots and prove that they are the Rangers and that they are the pieces that can help bring this team to Stanley Cup glory.