The New York Rangers pared their roster again on Monday, hours before their preseason game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena, leaving them at 41 players with eight days remaining before they open the regular season against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 7.
Five players — Jaroslav Chmelar, Jackson Dorrington, Case McCarthy, Adam Sykora and Kalle Vaisanen – were assigned to training camp with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Blueshirts’ American Hockey League affiliate. In addition, defenseman Andrej Šustr was released from his professional tryout contract.
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Four more players, forwards Anton Blidh, Trey Fix-Wolansky and Justin Dowling, and defenseman Derrick Pouliot, were placed on waivers and can be sent down if they clear by noon ET on Tuesday. That would reduce the roster to 37.
Perhaps the most familiar name among the five players sent down is Sykora, their second-round pick (No. 63 overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. The Slovakian forward had 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) and was minus-21 in 70 games with the Wolf Pack last season. The 21-year-old was scoreless and finished plus-1 in his only preseason appearance, against the Boston Bruins on Sept. 23.
The Rangers are looking for Sykora to produce more offense; he has just 17 goals in his two AHL seasons.
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“I know what I need to improve, and they also told me last year in the exit meetings they told me, ‘Yeah, you’re getting a lot of chances, but you have to finish it and then you can have more goals, more points, and everything,” he said during rookie camp. “So, there’s another part.”
Rangers cut 5, waive four, release Sustr from PTO
Chmelar, the Rangers’ fifth-round pick (No. 144 overall) in the 2021 draft, had 12 goals and 29 points but was minus-37 for Hartford last season, his first full pro season. He was scoreless in his only preseason appearance, also in the 5-4 overtime loss to the Bruins last week.
Dorrington, a left-shot defenseman, came to the Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks in the J.T. Miller trade on Jan. 31 and signed with them after completing his third season at Northeastern. He had a goal and an assist in nine games with Hartford and was scoreless in his lone preseason appearance with the Rangers, also against Boston.
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Neither McCarthy, a 24-year-old defenseman, nor Vaisanen, a 22-year-old forward from Finland, saw any preseason action. Vaisanen, a fourth-round pick (No. 106 overall) in 2021, will be starting his first full season in North America; he signed with the Rangers in 2024 but played in Finland in 2024-25. He was scoreless and had two penalty minutes in three games with Hartford in 2023-24.
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Sustr, a 34-year-old native of Czechia who brings plenty of size (6-foot-7), was looking to return to the NHL — he spent all of 2022-23 in the AHL and played the past two seasons in Germany, Czechia and Finland. He was scoreless in his only preseason appearance, playing 18:47 against Boston.
Fix-Wolansky scored a goal and Blidh had an assist in their only preseason appearance. Dowling and Pouliot had no points in the two games they played. Dowling has been idled by a lower-body injury.
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