Practice Notes: Conditioning Skate; Kreider Earning Spot & Nash's Leadership
Andrew Gross at the Bergen Record reports that today's third day of training camp looked more like the John Tortorella training camps of old as the session ended with a hard, conditioning skate.
...good to see Torts keeping these guys on their toes. With Torts winging training camp, these guys are always going to be on alert for a set of Herbies to pop-up out of nowhere.
It also looked like Torts decided to give one of the new guys a proper welcome (via NY Rangers)...
...welcome to Camp Tortorella, Mr. Asham.
Meanwhile, Brad Richards was once again missing because of the flu, but Torts isn't panicking (via Daily News)...
“I’m always concerned when players aren’t here. We’re doing a lot of concept stuff, but Richie knows our concept. He’s one of the guys who spent a lot of time taking care of business, his conditioning (during the lockout). Do we want him here? Yes. Is it a major concern? No. But we’d like to try to get him here as quickly as possible, just to get with some linemates and stuff like that. That’s my biggest concern.”
...agree with Torts. Maybe if it was Kreider missing the time I'd be worried, but Richards has been there done that.
Speaking of Kreider, Torts says his spot on the roster is far from a guarantee (via Bergen Record)...
“There better not be any illusions and I don’t think there is. These are processes all players go through and he has some gifts to him and we’re hoping they come to the forefront.
“Chris is still fighting for a spot, I’m not sure exactly what the roster is going to be. Hags (Carl Hagelin) is more planted into our roster. This is just the 22 we have right now and we’ll see how it all shakes out and what happens down in Hartford."
...one thing I can say with certainty, no way Kreider thinks he has a spot nailed down.
...i do love that the days of guaranteed spots on the Rangers is over. Got to earn your keep around here now.
And finally, Rick Nash addresses the Rangers leadership (via Blueshirts United)...
“ In some ways you don't have to worry about 22 other guys. I had a lot weight on my shoulders to do that (in Columbus). Here there are so many leaders in the room that are respected in the dressing room, so it takes some of that away from me. ”
...sounds to me like not giving Nash a letter will allow him to relax and just focus on hockey. Which can only be bad news for the rest of the league.
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@thenyrblogneill I thought you meant a set of herpes popping up out of nowhere.
I love this approach. Don't coddle people and then you get the best out of them. My Dad always told me that there was always someone out there that was better than me, and while that didn't win him any father of the year prizes, it helped me not take anything for granted and made me work hard for what I wanted.
kreider is going to make the team...i know what torts is saying as he doesnt want kreider to feel like he cant be cut...but they only have 12 forwards in camp...plus they are going to need to rely on his young legs because of the condensed season....i think kreider has the right attitude and work mentality and will fit in just fit with the team
@Van_Ness_WVU While the Rangers will give Kreider every opportunity to keep his spot, I don't put it past Torts to have no problem shipping him back to Hartford.
@KevinDeLury @Van_Ness_WVU Don't forget that Bickel and Gilroy have both been used as forwards in the past. Torts won't hesitate to move one of them to forward and put Kreider in the press box if he needs to.
