'We're Going to Have to Earn It Every Day': Drury, Sullivan Address Media Ahead of Preseason

With preseason around the corner and the full training camp roster dropping last night, New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury and new head coach Mike Sullivan addressed the media this afternoon.

Before taking any questions, Drury made sure to send his condolences to the Giacomin family following the passing of Rangers legend Eddie Giacomin just a few days ago. 

Anytime a new season begins, expectations are one of the biggest talking points. Despite taking a massive step backwards last season, it appears that the expectation regarding this team contending for a championship remains the same. 

One of the other big news pieces that came this week resulted from the team announcing J.T. Miller as the 29th captain in franchise history. Drury and Sullivan spoke a bit about the decision to name Miller captain as well as the decision to leave the rest of the leadership group intact. 

As we spoke extensively this summer about Mika Zibanejad’s place in the lineup being one of the biggest questions of the offseason, Sullivan addressed where we can expect him to slot in to start the season. Sullivan has alluded to the fact that Mika Zibanejad may stay on the right wing of Miller’s line to start the season and further solidified that today. However, he did mention that they could explore some options to start the season, potentially even who their third linemate could be. 

While he didn’t outright say Alexis Lafrenière could be the left winger on that line, he did mention that they may try him on both the left and right side. However, Sullivan does have a tendency to like guys playing their off hand, indicating it could make sense to keep Lafrenière with Trocheck and Panarin. 

Sullivan also spoke about the importance of paying Zibanejad a visit in Sweden this summer and getting the conversation going early as he needs to have a major bounce back season this year. 

Regarding Zibanejad’s place in the lineup, Sullivan also spoke about how keeping him on the wing allows for others to potentially carve out roles with this team, specifically mentioning Jusso Parssinen who is currently the favorite for the third line center job. 

He also mentioned how he wants the Rangers to have a defensively responsible third line that can take draws in their own end against other teams’ top players. Based on that, it sounds like defense is the priority but also mentioned that he wants them to be able to generate offense and play with strong awareness in all areas of the ice.  

Another big talking point this summer was the uncertainty regarding Braden Schneider as he was finally going to have surgery to repair a torn labrum suffered two seasons prior. Drury informed the media that Schneider has been given clearance to give and receive contact, he won’t play much at the start of camp but will likely play two of the final three preseason games. 

Lastly, Drury was asked about Artemi Panarin being a pending free agent and whether they were looking to sign him to an extension anytime soon. As always, Drury held his cards close to his chest but did offer some insight to how the franchise views Panarin. 

The Rangers will host their first on-ice session on Thursday, Sept. 18 at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown, N.Y., with the first preseason contest against the New Jersey Devils set to face off on Sunday, Sept. 21.