Bantering Points: 9/17/17

With only one day remaining before the Rangers' first pre-season game, Alain Vigneault will get one final look at his players before deciding which 20 players will be the first group to hit the ice for an "official" game for the 17-18 season.
Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Larry Brooks learned that the Blueshirts will be taking a trip up to Lake Placid after making their final cuts at the end of the month (NY Post)
• Brett Cyrgalis notes that Marc Staal will have to earn his minutes on New York's stacked blue line (NY Post)
• Justin Tasch heard the the organization is hoping that Chris Kreider emerges as a consistent gamebreaker over the course of the season (NY Daily News)
• Becky from BSB highlights the many moods and faces of Kevin Shattenkirk (Blue Seat Blogs)
• George Ruggiero compares New York's defense corps with that of some of the most recent Stanley Cup Champions (Blue Line Station)
• Michael Delasandro breaks down why Andrew Desjardins doesn't have a spot on Broadway (Blue Line Station)
• Garrett Gartino previews Ryan Graves and what the 17-18 season will mean for his future (Blue Line Station)
• Brian Anderson poses five questions that the must be answered before the end of training camp (The Hockey Writers)
• Anthony Scultore thinks that Jeff Gorton would be wise to acquire another experienced center (Full Tilt)
• Matt Calamia chatted Brady Skjei after yesterday's on-ice training session (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: Kevin Shattenkirk,(7:54) Alain Vigneault,(12:22) Chris Kreider,(3:59) and Brady Skjei (1:42)
• He signed a two year deal in the summer of 2014, but was unconditionally waived that fall after getting cut from training camp and refusing to play in the AHL. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Matthew Lombardi (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Former Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers to work for Ron Hextall (TSN)
• Adam Gretz reports that after trading Oskar Sundqvist and swapping draft picks with St. Louis to acquire Ryan Reaves, Evgeni Malkin has high expectations for the Penguins' newest enforcer (NBC Sports)
• Dan Robson sat down with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly to discuss growing the game in China (Sportsnet)
• Ryan Lambert ranks seventeen suggested rule changes from NHL players (Puck Daddy)
• Daniel Friedman gives his predictions for what the Vegas Golden Knights' opening night roster will look like (Knights on Ice)/

Do you know who the former Ranger in the picture is?