Eeli Tolvanen’s arrival has given the Rangers something they didn’t have before: a little breathing room on the wing.
That was the takeaway from Greg Kaplan on Blueshirts Breakaway this week, where he weighed in on the late signing and what it could mean with training camp and the preseason closing in. Kaplan said he liked the move, and he made clear he was already comfortable with the Rangers heading into the season with Tye Kartye as their sixth winger.
“I thought he deserved it,” Kaplan said. “I thought he played really well at the end of the year for the Rangers, and I didn't feel strongly that there was another winger on the market so much better than Kartye that it was worth bringing him in just to push Kartye down in the lineup.”
Kaplan’s bigger point was about depth, not just the individual player. In his view, having seven wingers for six jobs is a useful kind of squeeze, especially when all seven can be moved around the lineup.
“It's quite nice that the Rangers have seven wingers for six spots, and those seven wingers can play anywhere in the lineup,” he said. “It's a good problem to have that the only known roster placement that we have today for opening night is Noah Laba is going to be the third-line center and Joe Veleno will be the fourth-line center. Everything else is up for grabs.”
That versatility, Kaplan argued, gives the Rangers a way to handle injuries or a cold stretch without scrambling for a major fix. He pointed to Tolvanen, Will Cuylle, and Kartye as players who could allow the team to start the season with two wingers who can handle top-six minutes sliding into third-line duty.
So Tolvanen isn’t just another name added to the mix. He gives the Rangers more ways to sort out the lineup when the season starts to throw its usual problems at them.
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Still, the matchup also highlighted the kind of detail work that has to tighten up fast, because the Flyers were able to generate too many of their best looks with the same players driving the play shift after shift. Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump were at the center of that push, and Bumps impact stretched beyond one finish, giving Philadelphia the edge in a game the Rangers will probably circle as a reminder that good moments with the puck have to be matched by cleaner work without it. [Read more 🡒]