We’re nearing the end of July, and then there’s still more than a month until the Rangers are scheduled to commence training camp ahead of the 2023-24 season.

Restricted free agent Alexis Lafrenière is still unsigned, but it’s safe to assume that will be taken care of in the coming days or weeks.

Assuming that happens, the Rangers roster is essentially set, so let’s analyze what the lineup could look like on opening night, Oct. 12, in Buffalo:

Option 1

Forwards
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin-Filip Chytil-Blake Wheeler
Alexis Lafrenière-Vincent Trocheck-Barclay Goodrow
Jimmy Vesey-Nick Bonino-Tyler Pitlick

Defense
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Erik Gustafsson-Braden Schneider

Goalies
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick

New head coach Peter Laviolette can design this top six in two different ways, and it’s likely we’ll see both eventually. He’ll either put Lafrenière and/or Kakko on wings of the top six, or he’ll go with the more established version of Wheeler and Kreider.

There’s also a possibility it’ll be a mix of the two, with one or two youngsters and one or two veterans.

Something tells me Laviolette will want to start with the more established version of the lineup. I expect to see Kreider and Wheeler deployed in the top six right off the bat.

Kakko has the most history playing with Kreider and Zibanejad. The trio has had its moments, but the combination also went stale pretty quickly early last season.

Still, Kakko is a possession machine who should fit nicely into Laviolette’s system, which could give him the upper hand in securing a top-line spot.

Kreider and Zibanejad have played so much hockey next to one another that it’s hard to imagine Laviolette using a different starting point for his first unit. That is, unless he’s decided to jump head first into giving the Rangers’ young talent the first look.

I imagine Chytil and Trocheck could be interchangeable in this lineup, but taking into account Laviolette’s declaration that “young players need an opportunity to grow,” I put the former as the No. 2 center in the first potential lineup.

We haven’t seen much of Panarin and Chytil next to each other, and that should change. If not for anything more than just to see what Chytil can do with an extended look in that role.

Carrying a $3.6 million-plus cap hit, Goodrow probably shouldn’t be on the fourth line. The addition of Bonino, a veteran centerman with two Cups to his name, allows the Rangers to utilize Goodrow in the top nine.

The players signed by president and general manager Chris Drury during free agency created a deeper pool of options for the fourth line. Bonino and Pitlick, who is coming off his most involved NHL season since 2019-20, should be the front-runners to round out the Rangers lineup.

Option 2

Forwards
Lafrenière-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Trocheck-Wheeler
Kreider-Chytil-Vesey
Goodrow-Bonino-Pitlick

Defense
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Jones-Schneider

Goalies
Shesterkin
Quick

The Lafrenière-Zibanejad-Kakko unit was relatively short-lived last season. They logged just 73:58 of five-on-five ice time together, according to Natural Stat Trick, while scoring four goals and allowing two.

If Laviolette wants to throw Lafrenière into the deep end immediately, this would do the trick.

Panarin and Trocheck had their moments together, especially toward the end of the season when the latter really found his game.

I’d be curious to see Wheeler’s contributions to that line, especially because since Panarin and Trocheck had played alongside a revolving door of players that included Lafrenière, Goodrow, Vesey, Vitali Kravtsov and then either Patrick Kane or Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Vesey who started last season proved to be capable of serving as a top-nine contributor. Though his production slowed as the season progressed, it wouldn’t be out of left field if Vesey took a spot on the right side of the third line.

With Goodrow on the fourth line, Laviolette would be able to be a bit more balanced with his ice-time distribution.

The last spot in the defense corps is going to come down to Jones and Gustafsson.

From their days together in Washington last season, there is history between Gustafsson and Laviolette. That might give Gustafsson the leg up on Jones to start, but the Rangers need to see what they have in the 22-year-old puck-moving blueliner.

Want to catch a game? Tickets for all upcoming Rangers games can be found here.

As first reported by Patch, the Rangers are giving the hockey rink at Stanley Issacs Playground on the Upper East Side of Manhattan a facelift.

The project is said to carry a price tag of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Replacing the hockey rink is part of the Parks Department’s “Adopt a Park” program, an initiative the Rangers and Madison Square Garden have joined.

According to the Patch report, the hockey rink will be repaved, as well as have new fencing, walls and nets put in. Construction is expected to begin in mid-August, and could last between six to eight weeks.

Did you see “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” in theaters this weekend?

If you saw “Oppenheimer,” you may have recognized a former Rangers face. Not just any Ranger, but one of the most memorable and notable from his tenure in New York: Sean Avery.

Yes, Avery apparently plays the role of “Weatherman” in Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster film.

This is not the notorious NHL agitator’s first time participating in a Nolan movie, having played a lead soldier on the Red team in Tenet, which came out in 2020.

Avery has made cameos in several other films, including a few biopics. In the 2005 Maurice Richards biopic, “The Rocket: The Legend of Rocket Richard,” Avery played former NHLer Bob Dill.