Sept. 21 is the date the Rangers had circled on their calendars this summer; the first day of training camp and more to the point, the first day of coach John Tortorella’s dreaded and challenging physical conditioning tests.
That’s the day — next Friday — toward which the athletes had geared their respective offseason training regimens. Now, with the NHL owners’ lockout set to begin tomorrow, that day surely will be pushed into the future by weeks, if not months.
“That’s the challenge for us; to do whatever we can as group to maintain the level of conditioning we have now,” Brad Richards said yesterday following an informal scrimmage and workout featuring a dozen players at the Rangers’ training facility.
“We’ve talked as a group about how important it is for us to stay together and skate as a team as long as practical, so that we’re well prepared whenever we start up.”
The expected lockout means starting tomorrow, the players will have to rent ice at public rinks in the area in order to continue their sessions that began in earnest approximately three weeks ago and have included essentially every player on the roster.
“We’ve looked into different possibilities concerning rinks and will come up with a plan,” Ryan Callahan said. “Just about everybody is staying here at least for the foreseeable future, so we’re going to come up with a plan where we can skate as a group three or four times a week.
“I think it’s going to be as tough to stay mentally sharp and focused as it’s going to be to stay in top physical condition, but we have the benefit of being in great shape because of all the preparation we’ve done in advance of the testing,” the captain added. “We don’t want to let that drop.”
The Rangers’ regular-season ascent to the top of the East that preceded the club’s defeat by the Devils in the six-game conference finals sent to the players into the summer with a sense of unfinished business. Now, their business will be delayed by the business of collective bargaining.
“After the taste we had last year, and after the moves we made over the summer, I know how excited I was to get back here, so it’s going to be a disappointment on a number of levels if we can’t start on time,” Ryan McDonagh said.
“The fact that we’ve had just about everybody here skating together for almost three weeks is a sign of the commitment we have and the bond we’ve developed. We’re going to stay together here and try and keep this going as long as we can.”
Whenever the lockout ends, whenever training camp begins, there will be testing; of that, the Rangers can be sure.
“Torts has talked to Cally and me about keeping a structure in our workouts as much as we can for as long as we can,” Richards said. “One of the positives of preparing for these tests is that we’re able to bag-skate [strenuous skating without pucks] two or three times a week, and that’s what we’ll do as long we can stay together.
“Because whenever we do start up, there’s going to be some kind of testing on the first day. That’s not going away.”
* The Rangers assigned eight players to the Connecticut Whale — defensemen Sean Collins, Logan Pyett and Mike Vernace, and forwards Tommy Grant, Micheal Haley, Chad Kolarik, Kris Newbury, and Brandon Segal. Chris Kreider, who does not require waivers, will be assigned to the Whale for the start of camp Sept. 29. … The Rangers signed forward Michael St. Croix, their fourth-round pick.