New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan will coach the American team, and assistant David Quinn is on his staff. Rangers president Chris Drury is one of Guerin\u2019s assistant general managers. A league source said they advocated for Fox to make the team. Guerin, though, had the ultimate decision.<\/p>\n
Discussing conversations with Sullivan, Quinn or Drury about the Olympic decision, Fox said, \u201cThey let me know their thoughts. It\u2019s a conversation I\u2019ll keep between us.\u201d Asked directly whether his relationship with Sullivan and Drury is OK, Fox said, \u201cYeah. Like I said, my focus from the start of the year has been with the Rangers. \u2026 We\u2019ve got a lot of games until that (Olympic) break.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam and I have had a number of conversations around this, and I will keep that conversation between Adam and (me),\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWhat I will tell you is these teams that are being picked are the best of the best. And there\u2019s so many good players, and there are very, very difficult decisions that have to be made. It is a collaborative effort on everybody\u2019s part. And that\u2019s just the reality of these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ice shouldn\u2019t be an issue<\/p>\n
Given that Florida is a warm-weather state, Sullivan found himself pleasantly surprised when he stepped onto the ice, which is thicker than the usual indoor surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in pretty good condition given the circumstances,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always a challenge in this type of an event, and I thought it was pretty good today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stadium\u2019s retractable dome was up throughout the day Thursday, but the NHL tested it Tuesday with no issues. It\u2019s set to be open for Friday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be awesome,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cThe ice was fantastic. \u2026 That\u2019s a big job. I don\u2019t know how they pull it off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty good,\u201d Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin said of the conditions. \u201cBut a little bit warmer than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mika Zibanejad said the ice was pretty good, especially because Florida practiced and had a family skate before the Rangers took the ice.<\/p>\n
![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2254294986-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Matt Rempe\u2019s second outdoor game comes with considerably more NHL experience under his belt. (Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Matt Rempe reflects on past outdoor experience<\/p>\n
Walking into LoanDepot Park, Matt Rempe found himself thinking back on a different outdoor venue. He remembered how nervous he felt entering MetLife Stadium in 2024 ahead of his NHL debut. He was 21 then, filled with nerves and excitement when he took the ice for both his first NHL practice and game.<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s 76 games into his career. The nerves aren\u2019t fully gone, but they\u2019ve certainly diminished.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s much more relaxed, but it\u2019s still a big stage,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are games I remember always being excited to watch as a kid. \u2026 You\u2019re taking it in \u2014 there\u2019s 80,000 in the crowd, jets are flying overhead, and you\u2019re like \u2018what is going on right now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Rempe will have a difficult time having as memorable an outdoor game as his first one. When he took the ice for his first shift, New York Islanders veteran Matt Martin congratulated him and asked whether he wanted to fight to add to the memory. The two dropped the gloves, and Rempe pumped the fans up as he skated to the penalty box. Last season, Martin\u2019s last in the NHL, Rempe thanked the Islanders forward in a late-season matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a ton of respect for him,\u201d Rempe said.<\/p>\n
Martin responded kindly, the Rangers forward remembers. He told Rempe he\u2019s doing the right things and encouraged him to keep it up. Now he\u2019s a lineup regular for the Rangers, though he has only one goal in 17 games this season and missed time with a broken thumb.<\/p>\n
Rangers call on injury reinforcements<\/p>\n
The Rangers suffered two injuries during the Washington game \u2014 Conor Sheary and Noah Laba \u2014 and neither will be back any time soon. Sheary went on long-term injured reserve Thursday and attended practice on crutches. Laba is out week to week, per the team. He was also at the practice, watching from the first-base dugout with injured winger Adam Edstr\u00f6m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough loss,\u201d Sullivan said of Laba. \u201cThe one element that he brings to our group is a speed game and just a conscientious game on both sides of the puck. He\u2019s not going to be an easy guy to replace.\u201d<\/p>\n
J.T. Miller, out with an upper-body injury, went through practice in a red noncontact jersey.<\/p>\n
The Rangers made a flurry of roster moves to account for their injuries. Justin Dowling, Brett Berard and Anton Blidh all were recalled, and the Rangers sent Brennan Othmann to the AHL. The Othmann decision was at least partially cap related; because of his bonus structure, the Rangers would not have had space to keep him up and recall two other players. New York wanted the flexibility to have 13 forwards because an illness has been going through the team.<\/p>\n
Dowling and Berard looked likely to slot in. Dowling centered Jonny Brodzinski and Taylor Raddysh on the third line Thursday. The 35-year-old journeyman played 52 NHL games with the New Jersey Devils last season, plus five more in the playoffs, and had 7 total points. He\u2019s set to make his Rangers debut on outdoor ice \u2014 the first to do so since Rempe at the 2024 Stadium Series.<\/p>\n
Dowling was on the Dallas Stars when they played an outdoor game at the Cotton Bowl, but he was a scratch that game.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being a part of the whole experience was awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cNow being able to actually play and skate in one, it\u2019ll be a little different. I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who holds the same position for the U.S. men\u2019s Olympic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124,16996,5691],"class_list":["post-104266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}