RANGERS

NY Rangers development camp: Takeaways from scrimmage vs. Philadelphia Flyers' prospects

TARRYTOWN - Before Lauri Pajuniemi took his first shift in Saturday's scrimmage between prospects for the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, he was reminded that he's not in Finland anymore.

In one full swoop, Matt Rempe blasted teammate Justin Richards and Flyers prospect Cooper Zech, leaving Richards' face down in his own blood.

"It was a little bit different than I thought," said a wide-eyed Pajuniemi. "The first 15 seconds, there was two guys laying on the ice."

The outcome of the game — a 6-3 Flyers win at the MSG Training Center — is inconsequential. But the stakes are high for prospects looking to make a lasting impression, which led to a physically grueling affair.

For Pajuniemi, who is here for his first North American season after four years playing on larger ice sheets in Liiga, it was a valuable learning experience.

"It's so much different than in practice," he said. "I like to play and I think everyone likes to play. Everybody's trying so much harder and battling so much harder."

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Morgan Barron is more used to it than most, especially after playing for AHL Hartford and then in five NHL games last season.

In the case of the 22-year-old forward, development camp has been a chance to get a head start on earning an NHL roster spot.

"Today was competitive," Barron said. "When some of the other guys come in, I want to be able to hit the ground running. As much as the older guys are all skating before us – and we've been able to watch some of the skates (and) you can tell it's pretty intense. But at the same time, like you guys probably saw today, there's nothing that really matches game intensity when you're playing against other teams."

January 5, 2021: The New York Rangers 2021 season training camp takes place at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown, NY. Pictured is Morgan Barron.

Both Barron and Pajuniemi took advantage of their opportunities by scoring for the Rangers, as did Patrick Khodorenko.

Next they'll head down to the Flyers' training facility in Voorhees, N.J. for another scrimmage at 5 p.m. Sunday. But first, let's go over some of the takeaways from Saturday:

  • The Rangers started slow and were down 3-0 after one period, but they played much better in the second. That's when all three of their goals were scored, plus a fourth from Pajuniemi that was disallowed on a high-sticking call. The real killer for the Rangers, though, was their penalties. The Flyers only scored twice at even strength, but had three power-play goals (plus an empty-netter). We can, at least in part, chalk up the overzealous mistakes to prospects trying to get noticed. But with the Rangers loading up on guys who play with grit in the past two drafts, this should be a lesson about finding the balance between playing aggressive and being undisciplined.
  • The hit from Rempe happened so fast that it was hard to tell if it was clean-and-hard or crossed the line. But it certainly set the tone. A few minutes later, Wade Allison — who's four years older than Rempe — went after the Rangers' 2020 sixth-round pick and dropped the gloves. They exchanged several blows in what Barron called "a big tilt." For the rest of the game, Philly was clearly going after Rempe. But I thought he had handled it well. He didn't back down, but also didn't geflustered. The 6-foot-8 forward ended up playing a pretty solid game, engaging in puck battles, dishing out more hits and creating a couple of offensive opportunities for himself. "He stood his ground and he continued to play a good game after that," Barron said. "I don't think he let it get to him at all, so it's good to see."
  • Most of the Rangers' offense came from their top line of Barron, Pajuniemi and Will Cuylle. Those have been the three standout forwards at development camp and achieved a nice balance of size and skill when playing together. "It was actually really good," Barron said of their chemistry. "Sometimes you wonder, just because it's been such a short period of time and we don't really have too many systems in place right now. We have the basics in a few meetings, but for the most part, the coaches just drew some stuff on the whiteboard and let us play. ... We were buzzing pretty good down low and managed to have some good O-zone shifts."
  • Here's Barron on what he's liked about Cuylle: "He's taken some big, big strides over the summer. He was good for Hartford last year, especially for such a young kid. Someone his age usually would be playing junior back home. Because of the COVID stuff, he got to come down. As far as I can tell, it's been really good for him. He looks really good out there."
  • And here's Barron on Pajuniemi: "He’s got a great shot. I think that's the first thing you realize. Even in practice, when he shoots there's a lot of pop off his stick. He’s fun to play with. He talks a lot out there. I think he makes some really good reads. You can tell he's got a high hockey IQ. For someone who's just come over and was playing on the big sheet over in Europe, he's made the adjustment pretty quickly."
  • Pajuniemi's goal came on wrister from the slot on a feed from Cuylle. But before that, he scored a goal that was called back by getting to the net front and tipping in a shot from Cuylle. His shot is the strength that everyone cites when discussing his game, but that was a sign that he can score in other ways, too. He started a bit slow the first few days of camp, but has come on strong lately. "Every day, I think I’ve done better and better," he said. "It’s coming."
  • The PK was shaky, but the Rangers' even-strength defense held its own, all things considered. I liked the balance of the D pairs. Each had a skilled puck mover and a bigger, defensive-minded guy. Top prospect Nils Lundkvist was paired with Matthew Robertson, which was probably the best pairing of the afternoon. Then Zac Jones played with Braden Schneider and Hunter Skinner with Tarmo Reunanen. Skinner has quietly been pretty good throughout this came and was solid again on Saturday.
  • Richards never returned to the game after that collision with Rempe. The Rangers said it's an upper-body injury and you have to hope it's nothing with the head. He had to miss NHL camp last season after testing positive for COVID and you'd hate to see him derailed again. As I've written, the Rangers like him as a defensive forward/4C/PK option. With both him and Austin Rueschhoff (lower body) out for most of the game, the Rangers had to make due with 10 forwards. There will be some tired legs tomorrow. "We played with three lines almost the whole game, so in the end, it was a little bit tough," Pajuniemi said.

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.