The Morning Skate....previewing Rangers-Devs (UPDATES)

               As you might expect, Norwegian rookie Mats Zuccarello Aasen  and Wisconsin teammates Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan are thrilled to be debuting at the Garden tonight.

             And, as you might expect , Part II, coach John Tortorella re-affirmed that they will all get long looks from here on in, which means more than one exhibtion game.

              "it's a special feeling to be going in there," said Zuccarello,23,  who has been asking around about where his friends and relatives back home can watch a live stream of the game. "I've never been there, so I'm lucky to be playing tonight. It'll be something I'll remember forever.  Zuke will be skating on the right of Erik Christensen and Brandon Dubinsky, who he described as "good players, veterans. I'll try not to get in their way."

            Said Tortorella:  “In the scrimmage gamess, you can see he’s really quick and tight in the small corners of the rink. I want to see him against other teams and people banging away at him because that’s what we have to find out, can he play in that situation and handle that? You can see his quickness. He may be tough to get to, some of these guys who want to take him out.”

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              In the dressing room here at the MSG training center, two wooden cubicles were brought in front of a doorway that leads to the weight room to create some space for Stepan and McDonagh.

              Stepan, who seemed slightly less nervous than his camp roomate McDonagh, said that debuting at the Garden with McDonagh was unique...

               "Not many guys get to do it, me and Ryan are really close, we had a lot of fun together in two years at Wisconsin. It's an exciting feeling to do it by yourself and with a buddy, it's something special."

               "We're just trying to get used to each other,  find each other tendencies, get in the system more which will help our line chemistry, too. "  He remember the first time the three were paired.  "I had the puck and looked up and Gabby was already behind the two defensemen."

              "I'm sure they'll all be nervous," said  Tortorella. "We just want them to play to their strengths."

             Seems clear to me that both will be NHL players, this season or next.

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              Tim Kennedy has some good memories of playing in the Garden last season with the Sabres. "We won both games," he recalled. "What I liked about it is that it's like a throwback building, the fans are right on top of you, not like some of the newer arenas." Tortorella said both Kennedy and Stepan will see time on the power play.

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                If you haven't seen my twitters, the projected lines/dpairs:

                Frolov-Stepan-Gaborik

                Dubinsky-Christensen-Zuke

                Fedotenko-Kennedy-Prust

                Boogaard-Boyle-Prust

                Staal-Girardi

                McDonagh-Rozsival

                Semenov-Sauer

                G: Biron, Johnson

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             PLUS: Wade Redden was back on ice today, 12 hours after his wife, Danica, gave birth to their first child, a girl, who weighed in a t 7 pounds, nine ounces. All are doing fine.

             MINUS: I don't claim to be a fashionista, but Rangers new Liberty practice jerseys leave something to be desired, especially the red with gray trim and a single stripe along the curved bottom...Whites and blues not much more appealing. UPDATE: Note: Rangers did not design unis, NHL did.

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             UPDATE:  According to The Record's Devils beat maestro, Tom Gullitti,  NJ rooks lead NY 3-0 in second period. Last was a PP goal.  Rangers 0-5 on PP.  Not surprised.  Haven't seen any special teams work at NYR workouts/camp. Not an emphasis yet for Torts and staff, although many rooks were at Traverse City tourney.

            Here's NY roster:

Forwards: Brodie Dupont, Justin Soryal, Jason Wilson, Chris McKelvie, Christian Thomas, Evgeny Grachev, Ryan Bourque, Ryan Garlock, Roman Horak, Kelsey Tessier, Chris Chappell, Randy McNaught.

Defensemen: Dan Maggio, Lee Baldwin, Dylan McIlrath, Jyri Niemi, Blake Parlett, Sam Klassen.

Goaltenders: Cam Talbot, Scott Stajcer.

IMO, only Grrachev has real shot at big club on opening night, some others in future (McIlratth, Thomas, Bourque, Horak, Wilson, for example) although more could step up from junior or Hartford down the road...