The Rangers have seen alot of their prospects get chances this season either by earning a roster spot or by filling in for an injured roster player. Young players such as Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller, Dylan McIlrath, Jesper Fast, and Cam Talbot have all seen time with the Rangers in New York so far this first half of the season.  Now it seems that you can also add defenseman Conor Allen to the list as Anton Stralman left the game last night in the first period, never returned and is listed as "day to day". 

The prospects called up have all played roles that fit to where the Rangers expect them to play now or sometime in the future. Jesper Fast made the team right out of the camp and filled the role of Carl Hagelin while he was recovering from his shoulder surgery. Chris Kreider was called up a few games into the season and has played well enough to be a legit rookie of the year candidate. At this time he is second only to Tomas Hertl in rookie scoring and Hertl will be out for a month with an injury, so if Kreider keeps playing his game, he should pass him by and be a top three in rookie points when this season is over. J.T. Miller has frequent driving miles from the Hartford to New York shuffle. This last callup seems to have sunk in on his part and the part of the coaching staff as the coach has actually put him with offensive players and Miller has made a scorer out of Benoit Pouliot. Cam Talbot started off 4-0-1 in Hartford and was called up after Martin Biron retired. He has helped steady the Rangers especially with Henrik Lundqvist's game staying in Sweden while he is in New York. Talbot has steadied the team and has gone 8-3 so far. Dylan McIlrath got a taste of the NHL for a few games and had his first battle with McGrattan and held his own against one of the toughest players in the NHL. McIlrath took his new experience back to Hartford to strengthen his game but re-injured the same knee he had surgery on last season and there is fear he may be lost for the year. Now it is time for Conor Allen to get his chance and he could fit very well with a John Moore type of player.

The Rangers are in a very dangerous area for the organization this season. They need to figure out pretty quickly who they plan on keeping for next year and the future as there are many key players becoming unrestricted or restricted free agents and might as well get something for players they won't or can't come to a contract extension agreement with. This season the Rangers need to know if their prospects are capable of filling next year roster spots or if they need to find players through trades and free agency to fill any holes they feel they need to fill. Hartford players that should easily find their way onto the Rangers sometime this season should be Danny Kristo, Oscar Lindberg, Marek Hrivik, and Jesper Fast again. The Rangers that you are watching right now, will not be the Rangers we see next season and that's a good thing!

This season has seen most teams having to play without their top players due to injuries. The NHL was woried about more scoring and lessened the length of the goalies pads. Meanwhile the rest of the players on the ice are still wearing their armour that is causing most of these injuries. The players are bigger and stronger than back in the old days which is where alot of the players making these decisions are from. Hockey players now work all year round on their strength and game and fine tuning their equipment from sticks and everything else that can give them an advantage over their opponent. Maybe it is time to play on the olympic size rinks? Let's see how diferent the play is during the Olympics with the best players in the world and see if it more exciting and if there are more injuries or if there is alot of excitement and able to see the players actual skill.

It is tweeted out by the Rangers that captain Ryan Callahan is in full uniform and was the first player on the ice at todays practice and that Marc Staal is cleared to play and Larry Brooks tweeted that Staal most likely will play most likely on Friday against Pittsburgh. With these players coming back, unless if there are more injuries, it looks like there will have to be some decisions made on the Rangers roster.

Let's Go Rangers!!