{"id":861061,"date":"2026-09-26T06:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861061\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T06:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:38:11","slug":"rangers-drop-huge-clue-on-how-regular-season-lineup-will-shakeout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861061\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers drop huge clue on how regular season lineup will shakeout"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Rangers routed the Islanders 6-1 on Friday<\/a> in their preseason finale, it served as \u201cthe closest thing to a full lineup that we\u2019ve had of any of the exhibition games to this point,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that means that fourth-line winger Matt Rempe and rookie defenseman Alberts Smits are seemingly in the driver\u2019s seat for the final two spots for the Blueshirts\u2019 opening-night group. Nothing will become official until the Rangers make their final cuts by Monday, but the scene at UBS Arena that essentially served as a dress rehearsal was telling. Rempe was with the fourth line and picked up an assist on Tye Kartye\u2019s goal in the second period. <\/p>\n

Smits skated with Braden Schneider and logged 18:18 of ice time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Sullivan didn\u2019t provide many hints about the final calls, he said during pregame that Smits \u2014 picked No. 5 overall in June\u2019s draft \u2014 has \u201ccertainly made a compelling argument through his play that he\u2019s capable of playing in the NHL.\u201d And after the win, he added that Smits \u201cplays the game out there like he belongs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Both Matthew Robertson and Scott Morrow, who are defenseman also competing for the final spots, would have to clear waivers before getting assigned to AHL Hartford, while Smits is waiver-exempt.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Islanders\u2019 Pierre Engvall pursues New York Rangers\u2019 Alberts Smits during the second period at UBS Arena, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Elmont, N.Y. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

Smits impressed Sullivan with his physicality and sharp passing<\/a> as an 18-year-old, but similar to the Rangers\u2019 call with Gabe Perreault last training camp, when they sent him to AHL Hartford, they want to ensure that Smits can be an impactful player on their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d mean a lot,\u201d Smits said postgame when asked what it\u2019d mean to make the roster, while leaving the decision as to whether he\u2019s done enough up to the coaches and saying that he has to show daily that he\u2019s ready to make the jump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The presence of Rempe alongside Tye Kartye and Joe Veleno continued the trend throughout training camp of the 6-foot-9 forward settling back in after being limited to just 26 games last year. He underwent two procedures on his left thumb, limiting what he could contribute with his stick. Rempe would need to clear waivers too, while Jaroslav Chmelar can get assigned without the risk of being picked up by another team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Rangers\u2019 Alberts Smits pursues New York Islanders\u2019 Mitchell Chaffee (26) during the second period at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

Rempe knew entering training camp that he had a lot to prove, said he \u201cwants to be here bad\u201d and then collected eight hits during the Rangers\u2019 preseason game against the Devils on Thursday. And Sullivan, who reiterated that Rempe simply needs to play games, said Friday that the 24-year-old can be more than someone capable of fights and a few hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he has to be,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWhen you look at the nature of how the game\u2019s being played today, if a player, if their value is only in their ability to fight, how many fights does the average NHL fighter get in the course of a season? Half a dozen?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if he\u2019s only gonna make an impact five or six times a year \u2026 you would all say that there needs to be other elements to a player\u2019s game. And I think Remps brings other elements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Igor Shesterkin made 15 saves and nearly delivered a preseason shutout against an Islanders team of mostly AHL players before Pierre Engvall\u2019s shot beat him with just over eight minutes left. \u2026 Perreault, Oliver Bjorkstrand, J.T. Miller, Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad scored the Rangers\u2019 other five goals. \u2026 Nathan Aspinall, Liam Greentree, Drew Fortescue, Cole Beaudoin, Jackson Dorrington and Carey Terrance were all assigned to the Wolf Pack. Anton Blidh, Marc Del Gaizo, Glenn Gawdin and William Trudeau were placed on waivers, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Rangers routed the Islanders 6-1 on Friday in their preseason finale, it served as \u201cthe closest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[110483,4823,385,99],"class_list":["post-861061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-matt-rempe","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}