LAKE PLACID — There was hesitation from Rangers coach Alain Vigneault to automatically put new addition Kevin Shattenkirk with Ryan McDonagh as the top pair on the backend. But after training camp and preseason, that is where the two will start when the regular season beings on Thursday night against the Avalanche at the Garden.
“I think at the beginning of camp, I just wanted to try different experiments,” Vigneault said after his team’s practice at the Olympic Center, the same building where the iconic 1980 Olympic team won the gold medal. “I’ve liked what I’ve seen. With Shatty’s puck moving, it’s going to compliment Mac real well. And it starts for real on Thursday. That’s when we’ll have our right evaluation.”
McDonagh and Shattenkirk had both been to Lake Placid before during tryouts for the U.S. World Junior teams. But the two Americans still thought it was a special place to do some team bonding before the season started for real.
And it gave them another practice to get acclimated as a duo, hopefully finding chemistry to start the season.
“He’s really great at creating space and time for other players on the ice,” McDonagh said of Shattenkirk, the native of New Rochelle who signed a four-year, $26.6 million deal as a free agent this summer.
“He really holds on to that puck, patient, eyes up all the time, makes the right decision with the puck, puts it in an area where we can control it and keep possession, great along the blue line, getting shots down and finding open guys,” McDonagh said. “Think we’ll work well together. We want to focus on not spending a lot of time in our zone and staying fresh for the offensive zone and getting up the ice and joining rushes. Think we came together and improved a lot in a short period of time.”
The Rangers signed 20-year-old defenseman Brandon Crawley to his entry-level deal after the team’s fourth-round pick impressed in training camp. The native of Glen Rock, N.J., played his one preseason game in Newark against the Devils, and scored a power-play goal while leading all players with four hits.
After three seasons with the London Knights of the OHL, he is now with AHL Hartford.
Veteran forward Andrew Desjardins traveled with the team and practiced while still on his professional tryout.
Nick Holden has seemingly recovered from his illness that kept him off the ice for a few days, but Vigneault still had him skating on the extra defensive pair with Steven Kampfer. Marc Staal was on the third pair with Anthony DeAngelo, while Brady Skjei was with Brendan Smith.