Нью-Йорк Рэйнджерс багийн ахлах дасгалжуулагч Майк Салливан улирлын нээлтийн өмнө тоглогчдоос сэтгэл зүйн бэлтгэл болон өдөр тутмын хичээл зүтгэлийг шаардаж байгаагаа илэрхийллээ.
Нью-Йорк Рэйнджерс баг энэ улирлыг ямар нэгэн маркетингийн уриа лоозон эсвэл сүрдэг нэр томьёогүйгээр эхлүүлэхээр шийджээ. Багийн ахлах дасгалжуулагч Майк Салливан Бостон Брюинс багтай хийх нээлтийн тоглолтын өмнө хэлэхдээ, уриа лоозонгоос илүүтэйгээр багийн дотоод итгэл үнэмшил, өдөр бүрийн шаргуу хөдөлмөр чухал болохыг онцолсон байна. Багийн ахлагч Ж.Т.Миллер өнгөрсөн улирлын үр дүнг бус, харин ирэх тоглолтын эхний үеэс эхлэн анхаарлаа төвлөрүүлж байгаагаа мэдэгдлээ.
Бүрэлдэхүүний хувьд хаалгач Дилан Гаранд болон довтлогч Тейлор Раддиш нарыг АХЛ-ийн Хартфорд руу шилжүүлснээр багийн гүн дэх өрсөлдөөн тодорхой болсон байна. Мөн 18 настай хамгаалагч Албертс Смитс бэлтгэлийн явцад өөрийгөө харуулснаар үндсэн бүрэлдэхүүнд багтаж, 52 жилийн дараа Рэйнджерс багт багтсан тус насны анхны хамгаалагч боллоо.
Багийн удирдлага хамгаалалтын шугамаа бэхжүүлэх үүднээс Скотт Морроуг үлдээх шийдвэр гаргасан нь энэ зуны бэлтгэлийн үеэрх чухал алхмуудын нэг болсон юм. Рэйнджерс ийнхүү NHL-ийн улирлыг өмнөх жилүүдийнхээс ялгаатай нь илүү бодитой, ажил хэрэгч төлөвлөгөөтэйгээр эхлүүлж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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The message among the Rangers going into this season cannot be found in a catchy marketing motto or a slogan printed on the back of a shirt.
In fact, there is no coined phrase for the first time since before November 2021.
What the Blueshirts are hoping to establish is not so much a message as it is a mutual understanding. It can be found in the little habits of the day-to-day, the dedication to building a team game and the club’s push to adopt a collective mentality as one cohesive unit.
No cutesy phrase or inspirational rallying cry is going to be the difference for this team as it embarks on a consequential season.
After all, “There Was Some Quit In New York.”
The Rangers tried to implement an “It Takes Everyone” mentality. It turned out that “Everyone Was Pissed.”
And when the team donned “No BS” as its formal proclamation last year, quite a bit of BS followed.
“We can put slogans and signs on T-shirts and hang things on the wall — which is great — but we have to believe it, and we have to live it every second of every day,” head coach Mike Sullivan said on the eve of the opening night matchup Tuesday in Boston. “If we do that, we’ve got something. We’re trying to build a belief in a process that we’re applying every day, where our players and coaches and everyone buys into it. We’ll see where that takes us.”
Sullivan cited attitude and effort — two controllables — as key factors in the Rangers reaching their potential this season.
Captain J.T. Miller won’t dwell on last season and won’t look past the first period of the first game against the Bruins.
The usual pomp and circumstance at the start of a season is noticeably missing in New York, but it feels by design. It’s all business. Nothing can be said that hasn’t already been said a million times before.
“We know what to expect of each other,” Miller told The Post.
The Rangers were fortunate to have both rookie goalie Dylan Garand and veteran forward Taylor Raddysh clear waivers on their way to AHL Hartford to start the season. It fortified the organization’s depth, particularly at the goaltending position, which has been a hot commodity on the waiver wire this preseason.
Alberts Smits bulldozing his way into the Rangers’ Opening Night lineup was beneficial for defensive depth as well.
The Latvian blueliner looked poised to start the season with the Blueshirts very early on in training camp, but he proved his NHL-ready projection right with every exhibition game he played.
Like he’s been since the start of preseason, Smits was nonchalant about becoming the first 18-year-old defenseman on the Rangers since Dave Maloney 52 years ago. Asked if he expected to make the team, the new No. 12 said it’s the reason he came to New York.
“I don’t really care if you’re 18 or 30 or 60, job’s going to stay the same,” he said. “So yeah, I’m just trying to focus on the instructions that the coaches are giving us and trying to execute as best as I can.”
The last time the Rangers carried eight defensemen out of training camp was the 2021-22 season, when they didn’t want to waive Nils Lundkvist and/or Libor Hajek out of fear of them being claimed. To give an idea of how much has changed since then, Adam Fox is the only holdover from that defense corps.
It was a similar situation on defense this training camp. The Rangers opted to keep Scott Morrow around instead of exposing him on the waiver wire and potentially losing him for nothing.
“We think Scott [Morrow] had a strong camp also,” Sullivan said. “Right now … our roster is the way it is. We feel like the guys that are here are deserving to be here, and that’s why they’re here. Both Scott and [Matthew Robertson], we feel have had pretty good training camps also, and so based on what we have — the roster, the business side of the game, all those things — the decisions were made accordingly.”
