Dog Days of Summer: Rangers Training Camp Roster Battles, Prospect Patience, and the Connor McDavid Dream

It's the dog days of August, but Jim Cerny isn't taking a week off. Flying solo this week (with a Banff vacation on the horizon), Cerny opens with a personal story from his early broadcasting days with the Islanders before diving into the meat of the show: a full breakdown of the Rangers' training camp roster crunch.

With only four preseason games this year, Cerny explains why fans shouldn't panic if top prospects don't make the opening night roster. Using Noah Laba's 2024 breakthrough as a blueprint, he walks through the cases of Liam Greentree, EJ Emery, Albert Schmidt, and Adam Sykora, and explains how waiver exemptions and one-year "placeholder" veteran signings like Oliver Bjorkstrand and Joey Velleno give the organization flexibility to develop young players on their own timeline rather than forcing them onto the NHL roster too early.

He also digs into Matt Rempe's path back after a season disrupted by a hand injury, why Rempe (not being waiver-exempt) has an edge in the fourth-line battle, and how the bottom six could shake out among Rempe, Sykora, Tychonick, and Taylor Raddish.

The show closes with a look at the growing fan chatter around "tanking" for a shot at Connor McDavid in 2028 free agency, why Cerny thinks that's a flawed long-term strategy, but also why the dream isn't entirely unrealistic given McDavid's age, cap trajectory, and history of taking less money to stay competitive.

Chapters:

0:00 — Intro, solo show, Michael Del Zotto teaser for a future episode

3:00 — Banff trip teaser and a throwback Calgary story from Cerny's Islanders broadcasting days

13:45 — Training camp overview: four preseason games, September 29 opener

14:20 — Why it's OK if Greentree, Bodwin, or Schmidt don't make the opening roster

15:00 — The Noah Laba blueprint: how he earned his spot last year

19:00 — Fewer preseason games means tougher, faster decisions this year

22:00 — Oliver Bjorkstrand signing as a "placeholder" veteran option

27:30 — The Matt Rempe question: fourth-line spot, waiver status, and his under-the-radar offseason

38:30 — Battle for the final bottom-six/13th forward spot: Sykora, Tychonick, Rempe

41:00 — Albert Schmidt and the case for patience with 18-year-old prospects

46:15 — Fan chatter: should the Rangers "tread water" for Connor McDavid in 2028?

52:00 — Cap math on what a McDavid contract could look like in 2028