Nils Sum Game
After a week of speculation, Nils Lundkvist confirmed through his agent Claude Lemieux, that he will not report to camp, and will instead remain in Sweden hoping to force a trade. There have been reports this week, that the Swede asked for a trade after being demoted to Hartford mid-way through last season, and without a foreseeable path to a top four and PP role on the Rangers, the player has resorted to using the one point of leverage he has – not reporting.
The loss of Lundkvist before camp will not have an immediate impact on the team, but continues a frustrating trend of first round picks that have fallen out with team Management. 2017 7th overall pick Lias Andersson lasted three years before accusing the team of mismanaging him, whilst 2018 9th overall pick Vitali Kravtsov missed all of last season and part of the previous year after similar accusations.