With a new season comes new rules. The most obvious ones this year are the switch to an 84 game regular season and a 4 game preseason. There’s also the shortening of training camp by about a week, and the scheduling of the first Rangers regular season game in September. It’s all put more pressure on the coaching staff to come up with a new format to get ready.

But that’s not all folks. There are also new restrictions on rosters for the preseason games. Unlike previous years that accentuated ensuring that any preseason roster had a minimum number of “veterans”, this season it’s the opposite. This year veterans are limited to two appearances, leaving a chance for those bubble players and rookies to still make an impression.

Where things get a little interesting though is how the CBA defines veterans, so let’s take a look at that.

OBVIOUS VETERANS

The easiest category to define are players who have over 100 NHL games experience as a skater. This covers much of the projected roster for the Rangers, with 21 players of the 48 players in camp counting as veterans under this category. Even guys like Justin Dowling and Dennis Cholowski easily hit the 100 game mark under this definition, and would be considered a veteran by the NHL for purposes of preseason rosters.

Some other guys would not however. Defensemen Vincent Iorio, Scott Morrow and Matthew Robertson are all yet to hit the 100 game mark in the NHL, though Robertson does have 74 which then leads us to our next category.

RECENT VETERANS

These are guys who have recently established themselves in the NHL line-up. This category applies to players who have played in 30 or more games in the previous season, or a goaltender who was dressed for 50 games in the previous season.

The Rangers have no goaltenders that fit this category, but they do have three guys who hit the 30 game mark last year and have played fewer than 100 games. Gabe Perreault, Noah Laba and Robertson all really established themselves last season and became regulars.

A couple of guys who got close include Morrow (29), Matt Rempe (26) and Jaroslav Chmelar (28). All three were on the cusp of breaking the 30 game mark, but because they ultimately didn’t, they remain eligible for all four preseason games.

JOURNEYMEN

A minor league pro player also can count as a veteran in the preseason. The Rangers have a number of players who’ve played 400 pro games, but most of them also qualified under the 100 NHL game mark in the first category. Cholowski and Dowling both break that mark, but also both qualified under that first rule.

Marc Del Gaizo will get close this year – providing he stays healthy, but remains a non-veteran for the purposes of this preseason. There are two players who qualify under this rule though, and they are Glenn Gawdin and Anton Blidh. Both have played significantly in the AHL and thus qualify under this rule.

HIGH PICKS

Finally there is the high pick rule. This one’s a bit more baffling, as it covers former first round picks as well as some second rounders. First round picks over the past five years and all second round picks over the past three years.

With the influx of prospects this past offseason, the Rangers have a total of four players who qualify in this category. The most obvious is Alberts Smits who was picked 5th overall in June. It also includes trade acquisitions Liam Greentree and Cole Beaudoin, both former first rounders as well.

The other player to fit in this category is Jacob Battaglia, who was a second round pick by the Calgary Flames three seasons ago.

EXEMPT PLAYERS

That leaves 18 players who are not covered by the veteran rules and are free to play in all four games. Here is the list:

Nathan Aspinall
Jaroslav Chmelar
Marc Del Gaizo
Jackson Dorrington
Drew Fortescue
Dylan Garand
Vincent Iorio
Brody Lamb
Spencer Martin
Bryce McConnell-Barker
Scott Morrow
Matt Rempe
Dylan Roobroeck
Adam Sykora
Carey Terrance
Aidan Thompson – injured
William Trudeau
Callum Tung

It may seem odd to see guys like Martin and Rempe in there, but they qualify as a result of the very specific nature of the rules. In the case of Rempe, he’d probably have qualified if he’d remained healthy last year, but it became a moot point after he was shut down for the reason.

ROSTER IMPACTS

For Mike Sullivan it likely means that we’ll be seeing a decent number of these guys in at least the first two games. You’d expect he’d want close to his final line-up in the final preseason game, and there’s a good chance you’ll see a lot of them in one of either Game 2 or 3.

He’s going to be a little constrained though, and even a guy like Smits who is battling for a spot could find his chances relatively limited. It also means we might see fewer cuts immediately to allow for the team to carry the roster through the third game.

It’s new for everyone, so it’ll be interesting to see how all this is handled.