Rangers Roundup: Gerard Gallant starts meeting players; offer sheets still a threat; and more
New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant has been at the training center since last week per the NY Post. In addition, it was reported by Larry Brooks that the new coach only called one player since his hire. That was Adam Fox to congratulate him on his Norris Trophy win.
As to why he didn’t call anyone else, it’s not how he likes to do things.
“[Reaching out to players] is not what I do. Not at all,” Gallant said. “I just prepare getting my systems tape in place, reaching out to some of the coaches we hired, obviously, and just going over video and stuff like that. I don’t like to reach out to the players by phone, I like to meet them in person. This week has been real good. Players are starting to come in and I’m starting to see some of them. I like that a lot better than bothering those guys in the summertime.”
NY Post
Gallant starts meeting some players
Several Rangers have already started skating at the MSG Training Center in Westchester. K’Andre Miller, Keith Kinkaid, and Kevin Rooney skated there this past week.
On Instagram, Ryan Lindgren posted a photo of him and fellow defenseman, Jacob Trouba in New York City. They should also be meeting with the new bench boss, if they haven’t already.
Blueshirts overseas are expected to start coming back in the next two weeks. Vitali Kravtsov has already made the journey from Russia to NYC.
Offer sheet a real threat to the Rangers
This could just be retribution for what Montreal did in 2019 with Sebastian Aho, but the Hurricanes have given an offer sheet to RFA Jesper Kotkaniemi. If the Habs do not match, it will be the first successful offer sheet since the Oilers took Dustin Penner from the Ducks in 2007.
What this also indicates is that offer sheets, although rare are a legitimate threat and Blueshirts have five key RFA that are candidates for one.
Adam Fox will be an RFA at the end of this season, as will Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov. Then in 2023, both Alexis Lafrenière and K’Andre Miller are two highly probable candidates for an offer sheet.
This is going to be a task for Chris Drury to manage. Of the five players mentioned, Adam Fox and Alexis Lafrenière are likely to be given long term extension prior to their ELC’s expiring. However; Kakko, Miller, and Kravtsov could reach RFA status and be ripe for the picking.
There’s no reason to get into hysterics over the possibility at such an early stage, but it’s fair to call out the possibilities.
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