New York Rangers Breaking News: Rangers Finalize Roster For Europe
I hate to bury Kevin's recap, so please make sure to give it a read after you take a look at this.
The New York Rangers have finalized their roster for the trip to Europe to play a few preseason friendlies and then eventually start the season.
A few players have made pretty big impacts on John Tortorella so far this preseason, and all of them remain on the team. Ryan Bourque, Tim Erixon, Dylan McIlrath, Dale Weise and Carl Hagelin highlight the list of prospects who are making the trip. It will be great to see what McIlrath can do with the extra time with the Rangers, Tortorella has been very impressed with his game and hopefully he keeps showing it in Europe.
For Bourque, Hagelin and Erixon, it's an opportunity to make a final push to make the team, or at least keep their names in the back of the minds of the Rangers' brass. All three have truly shown potential, and the skill-sets to be NHL players in the future, but maybe not this year. Of everyone, Bourque has been the biggest riser in terms of prospects within the Rangers' system.
Andre Deveaux and Andreas Thuresson were the two players cut. Erik Christensen and Sean Avery will have a few more opportunities to try to earn their spots on the team, their cases weren't helped by a good Mats Zuccarello performance against Philadelphia, Monday.
The Rangers official press release is below the jump, including a full list of the player making the trip.
RANGERS FINALIZE ROSTER FOR EUROPE
33 Active Players Remain with the Club
New York, September 26, 2011 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has assigned forwards Andre Deveaux and Andreas Thuresson to Connecticut of the American Hockey League (AHL).
The Rangers now have 33 players remaining on their active roster, including three goaltenders, 11 defensemen and 19 forwards. The Blueshirts will travel to Europe for four exhibition contests, beginning Thursday, September 29 vs. HC Sparta at Prague, Czech Republic (1:00 p.m. ET), before opening their 2011-12 regular season schedule on Friday, October 7 vs. the Los Angeles Kings at Stockholm, Sweden (1:00 p.m. ET), as part of the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere.
PLAYERS ASSIGNED TO CONNECTICUT (AHL) ON 9/26/11:
Forward (2): Andre Deveaux, Andreas Thuresson
NEW YORK RANGERS ACTIVE ROSTER:
Goal (3): Martin Biron, Henrik Lundqvist, Scott Stajcer
Defense (11): Brendan Bell, Stu Bickel, Michael Del Zotto, Steve Eminger, Tim Erixon, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Dylan McIlrath, Blake Parlett, Michael Sauer, Marc Staal
Forward (19): Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Ryan Bourque, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Erik Christensen, Brandon Dubinsky, Ruslan Fedotenko, Marian Gaborik, Carl Hagelin, John Mitchell, Kris Newbury, Brandon Prust, Brad Richards, Mike Rupp, Derek Stepan, Dale Weise, Wojtek Wolski, Mats Zuccarello
