The Rangers are within a whisker of finalizing their roster for opening night.
After waiving and reassigning five players, they are down to 24, and that's including rehabbing forward Oscar Lindberg, who won't be ready until next month, and will presumably be placed on injured reserve.
So the Rangers can retain their 13 other healthy forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders, and stay at the NHL-maximum 23, or maneuver a bit before rosters must be submitted to the league on Tuesday. They currently are $2.025 million under the $73 million salary cap. They could stand pat or shed a defenseman, although coach Alain Vigneault has often said that for practice purposes, having eight blueliners is a bonus.
On Friday, the Blueshirts waived two veteran forwards, Tanner Glass and Nathan Gerbe, and assigned goalie Magnus Hellberg and emerging prospect Cristoval "Boo" Nieves, 22, a 6-foot-3 center who could be back this season after Thursday's successful debut, to the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack.
Glass, 32, the feisty fourth-liner who has been with the Rangers for the past two seasons and carries a $1.45 million salary-cap charge for this year, cleared waivers in October last season and was brought back. If Glass, who played 57 games last season, is claimed, the Rangers erase the entire charge; if he is assigned to Hartford, the Rangers carry just $500,000 on the books.
Gerbe, 29, who played with the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes for the past seven seasons, was battling for a fourth-line spot and is as a penalty killer. A free agent last summer, Gerbe had signed a contract with Geneve-Servette of the Swiss League in May before agreeing to a one-year, $600,000 deal with the Rangers. If he doesn't clear waivers, he could decide to opt for Switzerland.
The forwards are returnees Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast. The newcomers are Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich, Jimmy Vesey, Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri and Josh Jooris. On defense, the returnees are captain Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein, Brady Skjei and Dylan McIlrath. The new faces are Nick Holden and Adam Clendening.
The average age of the 24 players is 27. According to Canada's Globe and Mail, the average age for last year's opening-night roster, which included Dan Boyle, Dom Moore, Jarret Stoll, Viktor Stalberg, Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard, was 28.4, the third-oldest in the NHL.
