Preseason: Day 2

Not a ton to say about last night's 2-1 loss at the hands of Some Of The Devils. But based on those 60 preseason minutes, here's how I felt about those Rangers that weren't a few months ago, in a new (and probably one-time) feature I'm calling Yay/Meh/Boo.

Yay!
Justin Falk - Could this guy finally be that reliable #6 that so very many people have failed to be? I liked a lot of what I saw from him, on both sides of the puck. The same cannot be said for his partner.
Dominic Moore - Watching that goal felt really, really good. Impossible not to love this guy. Welcome home, Dom.
Danny Kristo - Looked good in a number of different situations tonight. Obviously, I'm not falling in love with anyone at this stage, but I'm prepared to go on a second date with Danny Kristo.
Cam Talbot - Pleasantly positive performance from Talbot. Dude made a lot of good-looking stops. If the Rangers were a team in need of a young starter, I would have been bolstered by Talbot's play. As it is, it's good news for the Wolfpack.
Brandon Mashinter - Cam Janssen is a terrible fuck with an exceptionally stupid face. The more punches that are delivered to that face, the happier that I am. Brandon Mashinter did an excellent job of delivering punches to Cam Janssen's face. Ergo I like Brandon Mashinter.

Meh!
Marek Hrivik - I have nothing to say about Marek Hrivik.
Shawn O'Donnell - I have nothing to say about Shawn O'Donnell.

Boo!
Aaron Johnson - A huge disappointment, since he was one of the reasons everyone said the Rangers suddenly have defensive depth. Doubly so because I was hoping he'd teach Asham how to spell our name correctly. The Falk/Johnson pairing was a sharp comparison, and it did not look good for Johnson.
Ryan Bourque - There'd been big talk about this kid, whom I think I recall being decent in the preseason 2 years ago. Maybe it was just the name, or maybe he had a bad night, but even on this half-team, dude was a non-factor.

So, anyway. There are 28 forwards, 14 defensemen, and 4 goalies left on the Rangers' camp list. Yesterday, before I ran out of time, we took a contract-level look at the 20 players that have already been dismissed from camp and the 20 who played in last night's game. That leaves 26 people who remain at camp but who did not play last night. Let's dive into them now. We'll start with the ones you will see tonight in Philadelphia. Vigneault (gotta learn to spell that more easily - it's preseason for bloggers, too) is giving a handful of players the chance to play in both of these first-week preseason games, dressing Moore, Powe, and Talbot for a second night in a row (the goalie starts had already been planned, but given how they played last night, I wildly speculate that this is good news for Moore and bad news for Powe). So, that means we're seeing 17 "new" guys (10 of 12 forwards, 1 of 2 goalies, and all 6 blueliners) tonight. Here's who they are:

Players with NHL Contracts (Cap hit is noted)
Forwards (6): Derick Brassard ($3.2m), Derek Dorsett ($1,633,333), Micheal Haley ($600,000), Benoit Pouliot ($1.3m), Taylor Pyatt ($1.55m), Mats Zuccarello ($1.15m)
Defensemen (3): Dan Girardi ($3.325m), Ryan McDonagh ($4.7m), Anton Stralman ($1.7m)
Goalies (1): Martin Biron ($1.3m)

Players with Two-Way Contracts (NHL cap hit is noted)
Forwards (4): Jesper Fast ($900,000), Michael Kantor ($583,333), Oscar Lindberg ($760,000), Andrew Yogan ($800,000)
Defensemen (3): Conor Allen ($1.775m), Dylan McIlrath ($1.295), Danny Syrvet ($587,500)

So, after tonight, we'll have seen 22 of 28 forwards, 12 of 14 defensemen, and 3 of 4 goalies remaining at camp. That leaves 9 players we won't have seen. Of these, there are 4 forwards who can't be played right now: 3 because they're injured, and one because he hasn't reported to camp yet because he has no contract. Carl Hagelin and Ryan Callahan, you'll recall, had shoulder surgery on the same day soon after the Rangers' season ended, and they are (as expected) not yet fully healed - in fact, it is likely both will miss the start of the season. J.T. Miller's tweaked a hamstring at camp on Thursday morning and was expected back the next day; as of yesterday, he still hadn't returned to the ice, but reports are that he is skating at camp today (though still not playing tonight).

Meanwhile, to recap what's up with Derek Stepan, he's a restricted free agent who is not eligible for arbitration. Here's what that means: once the Rangers extend him a qualifying offer (for Stepan, this is 1 year at $826,875), he basically has to either take it or not play in the NHL (the exception would be if some team gives him an offer sheet, which would be a pretty smart idea for plenty of teams, but for some reason GMs never do this). Stepan knows he deserves more than this, so he's holding out. The Rangers know he has no leverage, so they're playing hardball. Hence: no contract. NB: Nothing is preventing Stepan from attending training camp without a contract - plenty of unrestricted free agents do this on tryouts every year - but generally when you have these contract holdouts, the players choose not to report. Is this stunting his development as a member of the team under the new coach? Probably! But hey, fuck it - Brandon Dubinsky and the Rangers did this a few years ago, and his future with the organization turned out just fine, right? Guys?

Players with NHL Contracts (Cap hit is noted)
Forwards (2): Ryan Callahan ($4.275m), Carl Hagelin ($2.25m)

Players with Two-Way Contracts (NHL cap hit is noted)
Forwards (1): J.T. Miller ($1,244,167)

Restricted Free Agents Ineligible for Arbitration
Forwards (1): Derek Stepan

And so, we've now covered 41 of the 46 guys left on the camp list, leaving behind the 2 forwards, 2 defensemen, and a goalie who are potentially active players but who won't have played in either of these first two games. Does that mean these 5 are likely cuts this week? It's hard to imagine not still carrying Hedberg into next week, and there was no way Vigneault could have played more than 12 defensemen across 2 games, but you have to imagine that at least the 2 forwards who won't play tonight, in favor of Moore and Powe (both of whom played last night), can't be feeling super comfortable. And here's the last five.

Players with Two-Way Contracts (NHL cap hit is noted)
Forwards (2): Josh Nicholls ($925,000), Michael St. Croix ($870,000)
Defensemen (1): Tommy Hughes ($608,333)

Unaffiliated Players
Defensemen (1): Brendon Nash (Under contract with Wolfpack)
Goalies (1): Johan Hedberg (Unrestricted Free Agent on Tryout)

So that's it. The Rangers have an unsurprisingly stupid preseason schedule, playing last night and tonight, then off until next Monday, which starts a 4-games-in-5-nights West Coast trip to finish off the preseason. So, I'd expect a modest round of cuts sometime in the next couple of days (Larry Brooks reports that the Rangers could bring up to 21 forwards, 14 D-men, and 4 goalies with them, which, given 2 injured forwards, would only require 3 total cuts assuming Stepan does not report), and then nothing until next week, when a lot will happen. After this week's cuts, I may recompile these lists together, for my own benefit. Maybe I'll put that shit on the Internet, even?