The Rangers completed their skating workouts Saturday with a second set of drills. Marian Gaborik – who had been in his native Slovakia – returned to the ice, as did Artem Anisimov after he received a clean bill of health on his knee.
Mike Sauer, still nursing a tender knee, skated on his own and could be inserted into the full team practice tomorrow if everything goes well. One player who isn’t feeling any pain is Brandon Dubinsky, who feels no ill effects from a late season leg injury.
Some more news on Andrew Yogan. Per the Peterborough Examiner, the young forward suffered a first-degree shoulder separation and is expected to miss as much as two weeks now. Fortunately it’s not the same shoulder that required surgery last year. Rounding out the infirmary report, defenseman Blake Parlett sat out again with a knee injury of his own.
Two players who’ve come to camp with a different attitude this year are Wojtek Wolski and Michael Del Zotto. Wolski is eying a chance to compete for a spot on the top line, and says he understands now what he needs to do. Del Zotto by contrast is trying to regain a spot, and was keen for camp to get under way. (check out Jamy Baron’s story on Wolski also)
The Rangers will get to use pucks in tomorrow’s drill as they head towards the preseason opener on Wednesday. Tortorella is expecting to see a lot of younger players in the line-up Wednesday, though he admitted he didn’t expect everyone to get into a game.