First off, this article is not about Matt Rempe. Though he’s likely to take roster spot up to start the season at least.

We’re still around six weeks away from when the Rangers prospects roll into Greenburgh to start rookie camp, but it’s not too early to speculate. It’s already clear that some of those that finished last season with the Blueshirts are facing a challenge to hold onto their spot. I mean that’s a good thing right? The team that finished 29 of 32 NHL teams last year obviously needs to get better, and a sign of that would be players getting pushed out.

We already saw bottom six forwards Adam Edstrom and Brett Berard get moved last month – yeah, June is still last month as of this writing. Both were waiver eligible going into this season and were facing increased competition from the likes of Adam Sykora and Jaroslav Chmelar even before the season ended.

That appears only the start of things though.

SUMMER SIZZLE BRINGS FALL DRIZZLE

At least for some, the Fall now appears to be more fraught for their future. Chief amongst them is goaltender Dylan Garand. The 24 year old finally got to play some NHL games late last season and acquitted himself well, going 2-0-1 in his three games, and finishing with a .948 Sv% to go with a 1.62 GAA. The Rangers might have jumped at the opportunity to replace Jonathan Quick with Garand if he’d had a better record overall with the Wolf Pack, but with only a .896 Sv% and 2.83 GAA over 36 games last season, you can see why they might have some questions.

Sure, the Pack as a whole was a bit of a disaster, so maybe it wasn’t him at all. We may never know though if he gets claimed so that “proven” NHL goaltender Joonas Korpisalo can stay on the roster instead. Korpisalo has a career .900 Sv% and 3.06 GAA over 334 NHL games, including a .894 Sv% and 3.15 GAA in 31 games with the Bruins last season. Hardly feels much safer right, though the Rangers did likely need another goaltending option in case of injuries anyway, and what veteran wants to sign on to be beaten out of a spot in camp?

On defense there’s also a bit of a log-jam. Braden Schneider, Matthew Robertson, Urho Vaakanainen, Vincent Iorio and Scott Morrow are all competing for 3-4 spots depending on how many players the Rangers keep in reserve. Throw in 2026 1st rounder Alberts Smits, as a dark horse candidate, and the bottom of the defensive pairings looks positively crowded.

Schneider of course could be moved, as could Robertson for that matter, and Iorio and Morrow have yet to prove they belong – though some of Morrow’s advanced offensive metrics are encouraging, even if his defensive play still needs some work.

Could one of them be left “crying” come opening night?

FORWARDS GOING BACKWARDS?

How do you replace Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin? Well you can’t really, and the Rangers already questionable offense up front is even more questionable now. Pavel Dorofeyev *could* help, assuming he can step out of the shadow of the big guns in Vegas, but at least he has a guaranteed spot. Same can be said for a bunch of other guys, including Oliver Bjorkstrand and Joe Veleno – at least for now.

So who exactly is on the hot seat? Well Tye Kartye, Taylor Raddysh, Matt Rempe, Adam Sykora and Jaroslav Chmelar. With maybe only one forward reserve seat available and three skating spots, one of these guys could miss out. Sykora and Chmelar both have waiver exemptions, so despite their strong play at the end of the season, there’s a good chance it’s one of those guys.

If Drury manages to pull off a deal with Braden Schneider heading out for another top six forward, then it’s possible that two of these guys are heading down. You can see now why Edstrom and Berard were moved.

TIME TO WAIVE GOODBYE

So potential trades aside, it really looks at this point like we’re facing the prospect of two, maybe three players who could easily be claimed on waivers having to be exposed. Would someone claim Vincent Iorio? He’s big at 6-4 220, but he’s already on his third franchise at the age of 23. Oh, and we’re yet to see him look comfortable playing at the NHL level.

Could it be Scott Morrow, the defenseman who Drury got in exchange for K’Andre Miller last Summer? He was really the centerpiece of the deal, but when the Canes did him a favor by burning his first year of waiver eligibility two and a half years ago, it brought us to where we are now. Is there room to keep him? Probably only if Schneider is moved.

What about Garand? Would Drury really try to push him through waivers, because right now that sure seems like what he’s trying to do. Could the Rangers try three goaltenders to start the season, which has been a bit of a fad for a couple of teams recently, though that would mean another guy somewhere else gets exposed.

Or maybe both Chmelar and Sykora get sent down. Not because they didn’t outplay veterans, but because Drury doesn’t want to lose some of his other guys. You know, like Matt Rempe, Taylor Raddysh, Tye Kartye and Joe Veleno.

And what if Smits makes an impression in camp?

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING

Drury hasn’t necessarily been afraid of waiving a veteran to keep a better performing younger guy, but he has also shown the general GM demeanor of wanting to keep as many assets in play for as long as possible. Guys like Ryan Carpenter, Tyler Pitlick and Nick Bonino ended up getting sent down eventually, and it may be the case that Drury once again goes that route, and sends the two young forwards in Sykora and Chmelar down to start the year.

Smits winning a line-up spot as an 18 year old defenseman also seems pretty unlikely, given that it happens so rarely. He hasn’t even played in North America, so that’s quite a leap for the young Latvian, so would seem highly unlikely – though never say never. Iorio seems like a better chance of clearing waivers, though there is the issue of Scott Morrow sitting and not playing. It’s kind of the problem that the Rangers keep running into with the unproven prospects like Zac Jones, Libor Hajek and almost with Matthew Robertson. I’m sure the claiming of Ty Emberson a couple of years back as well as Nils Lundkvist’s late Summer trade request are in the back of Drury’s mind. Hell, even losing Jarred Tinordi to waivers probably sticks with “Dru”.

As for Garand, surely the Rangers know Korpisalo is a risky proposition as well. Surely, even with doubts over Garand’s abilities now, they wouldn’t risk exposing a guy who didn’t get much of a workout at the NHL level, but did have a pretty good AHL season two years ago and has Canadian national team honors, along with a World Junior gold to his name…I mean they wouldn’t try to get him through riiiight?

BOLD PREDICTIONS

I’m not beyond a bit of soothsaying, so here’s a bunch of things that will probably not happen – not that that has ever stopped me before

1. Braden Schneider gets traded and we end up with another forward to consider, but the defense gets a little cleaned up and Scott Morrow wins that opening night roster spot
2. Mr. Smits goes to Hartford – Not exactly Mr. Smith going to Washington, but this seems a no-brainer
3. Chris Drury gets himself tied up in knots trying to figure out how to avoid putting Dylan Garand on waivers, so he keeps him on the opening night roster with the plan to try and sneak him down a couple of games in. He loses him anyway, and then Korpisalo does Korpisalo things – that’s not going to look good.
4. Syky – which somehow is pronounced “SICK-ee”, but hey I’m not Slovakian. He gets sent down despite looking his usual energetic self in his one preseason game. There’s only four now after all. Taylor Raddysh stays though.
5. Jaro joins his buddy because the Rangers have added a forward remember
6. Vincent Iorio is placed on waivers. And clears. Of course.
7. No one knows what to do with Matt Rempe, so he stays for the moment, either that or he gets hurt in a pointless preseason fight against some AHL guy.

And if any, or all of those things come to pass, then I demand a refund!