The Rangers today announced their preseason schedule, with six road games to kick off their 2013-14 Stanley Cup campaign.  With MSG still undergoing rennovations, the Blueshirts will spend their first week with two games against the division rival Devils and Flyers, before heading west to play their remaining four games against the Oilers, Flames, Canucks and Kings.

New York kicks of the preseason with back to back games on September 16th and 17th, before taking a six day interlude on the way to four games in five nights, including three in three from September 23rd – 25th.  The final game of the preseason is set to be played in Las Vegas.

Perhaps the most interesting part will be the trip to Vancouver where Alain Vigneault and John Tortorella will face off their respective former teams.  While the game will mean little to anyone except a handful of players looking to break into the lineups, it’s sure to spark plenty of talk in the media.

It’s relatively unusual for New York to travel west of the Mississippi in the preseason, though they were scheduled to play the Kings last season, and Wild in 2004-05, both of which were cancelled due to lockouts.  You have to go back to 2003-04 when the Rangers played the Stars and Wild.

Six games is pretty typical for New York, who also played that number in 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2010-11.  Prior to the 2004-05 lockout, preseasons tended to be a little longer, allowing for more games, but the NHLPA sought to restrict the commitment, and as a result we typically see 1-2 fewer games each year.