Rangers make flurry of roster moves before season opener

After submitting a cap-compliant roster for Monday’s opening-night deadline, the Rangers have shuffled their group to get to their actual game roster for Wednesday night’s season opener against the Penguins. 

As expected, William Cuylle, Adam Edstrom, Victor Mancini and Matt Rempe were recalled from AHL Hartford on Tuesday, making the team in effect, reports Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today Sports. Five players  — forwards Anton Blidh, Jake Leschyshyn and Adam Sykora, as well as defensemen Ben Harpur and Matthew Robertson, were sent down to create roster and cap space.

The Rangers opened up a roster spot with the moves, but that’s not why they made them. Having the extra salary on the technical opening-night roster allowed them to maximize their capture when placing winger Jimmy Vesey and his $800K cap hit on long-term injured reserve. They now have $792K in their season-opening LTIR pool, per PuckPedia. After Tuesday’s moves, they’re sitting with north of $600K in cap space.

All four of Tuesday’s recalls are expected to slide into the lineup against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Veteran Jonny Brodzinski appears to be on the outside looking in as the 13th forward to start the year, while Mancini will slide in for Ryan Lindgren, who’s on IR with an upper-body injury. It’ll be his NHL debut.

It’s an impressive feat for Mancini, who appears to have usurped veteran No. 7 option Chad Ruhwedel in the pecking order, at least for now. He’s also pushed himself up on the Blueshirts’ depth chart past other veteran defensive depth options with NHL experience like the aforementioned Harpur. 

The 22-year-old was a fifth-round pick just two years ago out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where the 6-foot-4, 220-pound stay-at-home defender had four goals and 23 points in 110 games with a +4 rating. He’s entering his first full season of pro hockey but did close out last year with six assists in 17 combined regular-season and playoff games for Hartford.

Edstrom, listed at 6-foot-6, and Rempe, listed at 6-foot-9, are back to reprise their roles on one of the tallest combined forward lines in league history. They got spot duty together last season when they were both on the roster, getting seven games of action flanking Barclay Goodrow. 

The line has lost a couple of inches with the 6-foot-2 Goodrow now replaced by a 6-foot Sam Carrick, but an opening-night look is still promising for the younger duo of Edstrom and Rempe.

Edstrom, 24 on Saturday, had two goals in his first 11 NHL appearances last year. Rempe, meanwhile, scored a goal and an assist in 17 games. Only the 22-year-old Rempe saw playoff action, though, drawing into 11 of New York’s 16 postseason games en route to the Eastern Conference Final.

Cuylle was always a near-lock to make the team, only being sent down briefly for cap purposes, as mentioned earlier. The 22-year-old left winger had a promising rookie season in 2023-24, scoring 13 goals and eight assists for 21 points in 81 games while averaging 11:08 per game. 

He played a frequent third-line role at even strength but received little to no special teams usage. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound former second-rounder also finished fourth on the team in PIMs (56), tied for sixth in even-strength goals (12), and led them in hits (249).