The Rangers reassigned six more players to Hartford this morning and placed four more veterans on waivers ahead of reassignment tomorrow should they clear. With the Training Camp roster now standing at 32, with 29 healthy players and 3 injured, the four waiver players would bring the team down to just a handful of decisions to get to 23.

On waivers today are Anton Blidh, Glenn Gawdin, Marc Del Gaizo and William Trudeau. It would be surprising if any of the four were to be claimed, and they will be assigned to Hartford should they clear. For the other six, there’s a possibility that we’ll see one or more of them during the season should there be injuries.

LATE CUTS A MIXED BAG

Carey Terrance and Jackson Dorrington did not even manage to get into a preseason game, though they did both play in the rookie games against the Flyers. It perhaps speaks to where they stand in the organization, though both were relative knowns to the coaching staff who were tasked with evaluating a significant number of new players.

The other four all made various impressions during camp. Liam Greentree stood out the most, though he showed some rough edges at times with his passing decision. He looks physically ready, and it should be only a matter of time before we see him again. Similarly Cole Beaudoin looked capable, though perhaps not impactful yet. More playing time in the AHL could help his game as he looks to make his way into NHL contention.

On defense, Drew Fortescue looked more poised than most of his fellow prospects. He looks particularly comfortable handling the puck in his own end and continues to show that he’s not easily thrown off his game. With several players in front of him, Fortescue’s future may lie as a trade asset, but in the short term at least he’ll get a chance to help the Wolf Pack rebuild this year.

WHO’S LEFT

Injuries to Aidan Thompson, Adam Sykora and Vincent Iorio mean that the Rangers really will only have a couple of decisions remaining. After waivers tomorrow, they’ll be down to 25 healthy players, or just two more cuts to make in order to get down to the league maximum of 23.

The players battling for those last spots include Taylor Raddysh, Matt Rempe, Jaroslav Chmelar, Dylan Garand and Scott Morrow. Matthew Robertson would appear to be safe, and Alberts Smits looks more likely than less to have earned a spot – though things could of course still change.

Chmelar is waiver exempt and would appear to be a likely target for reassignment, despite having a solid training camp. Morrow, Rempe and Garand are all expected to draw some attention on waivers. Losing Garand would also have the lead-on effect of further hurting a pretty thin goaltending pipeline. It could put the Rangers in a precarious position, and either way is likely to impact the Pack’s ability to turn things around.

That leaves Taylor Raddysh as the guy most likely to be waived. On the second year of his two-year $850k contract, the 28-year-old would appear to be the most replaceable part of the roster, and could probably pass through waivers without a claim anyway.

Prediction: Chmelar and Raddysh are the two remaining players who get cut.

DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

Having Garand and Morrow sit in the stands isn’t particularly ideal either. Both players need playing time and carrying three goaltenders and eight defensemen make the Rangers susceptible if they suffer an injury to the forwards. It’s challenging because neither Braden Schneider nor Joonas Korpisalo would seemingly be long-term solutions for the Rangers, though giving Schneider away for free or losing Korpisalo on waivers wouldn’t help the organization as a whole either.

It may be that Sullivan has to look at rotating these guys (along with Matthew Robertson) into the line-up to keep them fresh. A case that’s a little easier to make with the addition of those two games to take the season total to 84.

An untimely injury in the NHL could lead to interest picking up on Schneider, and whether Korpisalo can really be better than Garand probably requires more evaluation. Keeping Morrow and Garand for those reasons at least leaves options on the table.