NHL Preseason: New York Rangers Survive Day 1 of Coach Tortorella's Bootcamp

The headline may appear to be hyperbolic but today's session of training camp was hellish in nature. Coach Tortorella was surprised the media showed up today. He said, "Why are you guys even here, we aren't using pucks today, come back Sunday."

Rangers writers like Jesse Spector, Andrew Gross, and Jim Cerny did a good job of giving updates on what happened at camp today.

Pre-Game Notes

Artem Anisimov, Michael Sauer, and Blake Parlett were exempt from today's skate due to their various injuries. Anisimov even went for an MRI which came back negative after a knee examination during camp physicals.

Michael Sauer continued to nurse his injury and hopes to get back on the ice as soon as possible.

Marian Gaborik will join the team tomorrow. Gaborik is on his way back to New York from Slovakia where he attended the funeral of his best friend Pavol Demitra.

The Rangers also released the following schedule for training camp

Saturday, September 17 

9:30AM – 10:45AM                             Group 4 On-Ice

11:00AM – 12:15PM                           Group 3 On-Ice

12:30PM – 1:45PM                             Group 2 On-Ice

2:00PM – 3:15PM                               Group 1 On-Ice

Sunday, September 18 

9:00AM – 10:00AM                            Group 1/Group 4 Scrimmage

10:00AM – 11:00AM                          Group 4 On-Ice

11:00AM - 12:00PM                           Group 1 On-Ice

1:00PM – 2:00PM                              Group 2/Group 3 Scrimmage

2:00PM – 3:00PM                              Group 3 On-Ice

3:00PM – 4:00PM                              Group 2 On-Ice

Here are the groups for anyone who missed my earlier post.

Group 1:
Sean Avery, Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Newbury, Brandon Prust, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, 
Erik Christensen, Mike Rupp, Steve Eminger, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, 
Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Tommy Grant, Kale Kerbashian.

Group 2:
Brandon Dubinsky, Marian Gaborik, Carl Hagelin, Dylan McIlrath, Artem Anisimov, 
John Mitchell, Brad Richards, Derek Stepan, Ryan Bourque, Andre Deveaux, Wojtek Wolski, 
Mats Zuccarello, Tim Erixon, Jordan Hickmott, Chad Kolarik, Dale Weise.

Group 3:
Lee Baldwin, Tomas Kundratek, J.T. Miller, Pavel Valentenko, Sam Klassen, Jyri Niemi, 
Jared Nightingale, Samuel Noreau, Brendan Bell, Stu Bickel, Michael Del Zotto, 
Michael Sauer, Andreas Thuresson.

Group 4:
Peter Ceresnak, Blake Parlett, Christian Thomas, Jason Wilson, Tayler Jordan, 
Shane McColgan, Michael St. Croix, Collin Bowman, Chris McKelvie, Kelsey Tessier, 
Scott Tanski, Matt Rust, Andrew Yogan, Marty Biron, Chad Johnson, Henrik Lundqvist, 
Jason Missiaen, Scott Stajcer, Cameron Talbot.

Tortorella's Thoughts on Camp Today

Here are some of the key points made by Tortorella courtesy of Katie Strang of ESPN NY.

"

Tortorella said he was pretty happy with the fitness level of players on the notoriously strenuous first day of on-ice conditioning. The team uses the dreaded drill—three laps of sprints, six times—to evaluate how each player approached their offseason training and is indicative, Tortorella said, of their commitment to the team.

Tortorella said he doesn't have a left wing already penciled in to complete the top line with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik.

"I have no idea," he said. "We're going to try different guys there. "The team plans on taking between 30-32 players to Europe.

He believes third-year defenseman Michael Del Zotto will have a good camp. "We want him to have his swagger,"Tortorella said, "but it has to be the proper swagger."

Torts liked to hear that Wojtek Wolski expressed disappointment in his underwhelming season last year. 

"Self-evaluation. It's a very important thing for a player." 

Wolski will be one candidate to compete for a spot on the team's top line, Tortorella said. 

"He'll get a look with [Gaborik] and [Richards] along the way. How it works, we'll see what happens. The players determine that for us."

"

In short, today was a pretty good day for the Rangers. Players were evaluated and everyone really seemed to be in good shape Steve Zipay noted that Tim Erixon looked good during the camp.

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@stevezipay Erixon's done really well, easy strides, stamina.

"

He also noted that Stepan, Richards, and Mitchell were a bit winded but who wouldn't be after this trial.

All in all today was a good day for the Rangers but tomorrow is another day full of testing. Roster cuts will eventually trim down the team to 23 skaters but these next few days will help to determine who is staying for the long haul and who is going back to the minors.

What are you looking forward to most about training camp? Leave a comment in the section below to get the conversation started.

Tom Urtz is an NHL Featured Columnist and New York Rangers Featured Columnist.

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