Here's the Rangers' big big cut:
Ryan Graves, Vinny Lettieri, Boo Nieves, and Neal Pionk to the Hartford Wolf Pack. Nieves and Lettieri are honestly kind of surprises here. Nieves seemed like an obvious lock as our 5th center (and possibly 3rd/4th C if we decide to send Chytil back to the Czech Elite League after his 9 games). This might still be the plan, especially if they dump Desjardins, but we'll get to that...
Matt Puempel will be placed on waivers. Can't argue with this based on preseason.
Bobby Farnham has been released from his PTO. Good.
Lias Andersson has been returned to Frolunda. Probably the best decision for him long term.
Andrew Desjardins is still here. I knew it. I just knew it. As soon as AV said that his suspension put the team "in a real tough spot." He's AV's new Tanner Glass.
Paul Carey is also still with the team, which is a little bit of a surprise, but as preseason went on he became more and more noticeable and more and more of a candidate to stay. Even still, he was signed and brought here very specifically to make the Wolf Pack better, so the fact that he may make the team is somewhat stunning.
Steven Kampfer is also inexplicably still here after being clearly outplayed by Pionk (and possibly even Graves). This may be motivated by a fear of losing him on waivers, which is...what?
That means the Rangers as of right now are:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Nash-Chytil-Zuccarello
Grabner-Hayes-Miller
Vesey-Desharnais-Carey
Desjardins, Fast (IR), Fogarty (SOIR)
McDonagh-Shattenkirk
Skjei-Smith
Staal-DeAngelo
Holden-Kampfer
Lundqvist
Pavelec
One of Paul Carey or Andew Desjardins is making the opening night roster, barring a trade. This is INSANE. If it's Desjardins I'm going to be absolutely livid.
Filip Chytil has also won the Rangers' Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award, given every year to the best rookie at training camp as selected by the media. It's clear he has made the opening night lineup.
EDIT: Updated the lines and pairings to what they're running in practice today.