The New York Rangers will be heading to Chicago for their first game of the season. This may be a hard one for the Rangers, who will have to watch the Hawks raise up the flags they earned last year. With the Rangers coming so close to taking it all last year, they will have to be good sports in honor of the Hawks tonight. Losing to Tampa Bay, 4-3, in the conference finals was not a good way to end the season. It was a tough lose but I believe they will come back strong this year. With a few new faces such as Emerson Etem who will replace Hagelin, adds great height and speed to the team, which they lost with Hags. Acquiring Antti Raanta in exchange for Cam Talbot, was a difficult trade. Talbot helped the Rangers stay together when Lundqvist got injured from fellow teammate, Ryan McDonough's stick. After taking a stick to the neck, Lundqvist was out for the entire middle to end of the season. Most of the wins from the season were earned by Talbot, but the Rangers realized that he needed to be a starter with the skills he has. They certainly weren't going to let go of Lundqvist for him. Sending Talbot to Edmonton Oilers was the right move for Talbot but not so good for the team. They are going to have to find new ways to build up again. Many of the key players like Stephan, Lundqvist, and Nash, are getting older and are looking for more money. Acquiring these new guys like Etem and Raanta is going to help the start of building up their team so when the key players leave, they have a stable team to work with. Working with young guys on skills and ability will help get a closer look on where the team will be a few years down the road. Getting a hold of these young, skilled players and keeping them, is something the Rangers are going to have to keep a close eye on.
The President's Trophy winners will have to put their all into tonight's game. With key player, Patrick Kane for the Hawks, still under investigation, the Rangers will have to keep a close watch on him. With everything surrounding his case, he is going to come out strong and try and prove him self on the ice. The Rangers have taken the win 3 of out the last 4 meetings with Chicago. With stats like this, the Rangers have a pretty good chance tonight. Winning the 1st game of the season would give them the boost of confidence to carry into Friday's game in Columbus, and most importantly, Saturday's home opener. Lundqvist tweeted yesterday, "After a fun summer in Swe I really enjoyed coming back to NY for training camp and the start of another season. One to remember I hope!"
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