The NHL season may be over for 2022, but the New York Rangers are already looking ahead to next season.
In an announcement on the team’s twitter page, the Rangers unveiled their opponents for the 2022-23 pre-season.
New York will play six pre-season games with three of them being at Madison Square Garden against three teams.
Rangers Pre-Season Schedule
Boston, New Jersey and the Islanders will all see the Rangers twice before the regular season begins.
The team will start the pre-season slate on Monday, September 26 against the Islanders at MSG. The team will play two more games that week with a Tuesday battle in Boston, and a Thursday contest at home against the Devils.
New York concludes its six-game slate with matchups against the Bruins at home on Wednesday, October 5 and on the road against the Islanders on Saturday, October 8 at UBS Arena.
The Rangers are coming off a highly successful season, the first under head coach, Gerard Gallant. The team made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014, but lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Here’s a look at the three teams New York will face in the pre-season and their off-season outlook.
New York Islanders
The Islanders parted ways with head coach Barry Trotz in a surprise move just over two months ago. The Isles missed the playoffs for the first time in the Trotz era after two straight appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals. There’s a lot of questions and a huge spotlight under new head coach, Lane Lambert. The futures of team stalwart, Josh Bailey and goaltender Semyon Varlamov will be a big topic this entire off-season.
Boston Bruins
Like the Islanders, the Bruins fired Bruce Cassidy after a first round exit this year in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Cassidy’s firing came as big of a shock as Trotz’s with the coach having a 67% winning percentage in Boston – the best of any Bruins coach since Bep Guidolin in 1974. While no coach has been hired, the team must also decide on the future of captain, Patrice Bergeron who is a free agent this off-season. Letting Bergeron walk would mean breaking up the “perfection line” which would signal a much different future in Boston.
New Jersey Devils
It will be a make-or-break season for general manager Tom Fitzgerald. Named to the position in 2020, Fitzgerald has seen a young team struggle, but does have talent on the roster. With the second overall pick, the Devils will have an opportunity to get a top player in a solid class. The team is likely still a few years away from getting back to the postseason for the first time since 2017.
The Rangers themselves do have a lot of questions surrounding their off-season, but after a strong 2021-22 season, the outlook on the young team will only get better as the core group of players grow together. The next step in that process wil; begin in September at MSG.
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