Rangers hopeful two stars will be available for…
The Rangers still hope that both first-line heart J.T. Miller and top scorer Artemi Panarin will be in the lineup opening evening despite current absences.
Miller returned to apply in a purple non-contact jersey on Friday, and Panarin was skating on his own with a coach.
Miller, who hadn’t practiced with the Blueshirts since exiting Monday’s session with a noncontact lower-body injury, rejoined the first line between Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle.
J.T. Miller skates during the Rangers’ preseason loss to the Islanders at Madison Square Garden on Sept.25, 2025. Getty Images
Panarin, who took line rushes Thursday morning but was held out of the preseason sport at evening for precautionary causes, has an upper-body injury, which is a different label from the lower-body one earlier in training camp.
Head coach Mike Sullivan said it’s not a new injury, though.
“We’re trying to err on the side of caution with these guys, as we’ve said all along,” Sullivan said Friday in Tarrytown. “Artemi skated this morning before the group skated, and so it’s not that he’s not on the ice. He is. And then we’ll continue to rehab him and go through a return-to-play course of that he’s been going through.
“We’re hopeful that he’ll be ready. He’s certainly making strides.”
While Sullivan declined to put a time body on how long Miller will need to skate in the purple jersey for, the fact that he might at least apply with the Rangers on Friday was a “real encouraging sign.” It possible received’t be long, Sullivan added. Miller immediately offered a spark to the Blueshirts last season after getting acquired from the Canucks and returning to the Garden — gathering 35 factors in 32 video games — before getting named their new captain last month.
Conor Sheary stepped into the spot of Panarin — who collected 209 mixed factors the last two campaigns and is coming into a contract yr — on the second line alongside Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière on Friday, with Brett Berard rotating in.
Artemi Panarin skates during the Rangers’ loss to the Devils at Prudential Center on April 5, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images
Adam Edstrom’s first preseason sport Sept. 25 was a wake-up call. A reminder that despite recovering from surgical procedure for a lower-body injury and despite practising throughout training camp, he still hadn’t performed in a true sport since February.
So he shed any lingering rust that evening against the Islanders. Edstrom felt like himself — a key piece of the Rangers fourth line alongside Matt Rempe and Sam Carrick — again by the time Thursday’s exhibition arrived, when he was credited with a fluke purpose after a Devils defenseman’s clearing cross ricocheted off his skate.
In his second full NHL season, after logging 11 video games in 2023-24 and 51 last yr before the injury, Edstrom desires to continue making offensive strides. He doesn’t look at the label of being a fourth-liner or third-liner — that’s for others to assign. Edstrom, Carrick and Rempe discovered methods to generate targets when together in 2024-25, and with the trio possible to open the season together, they will have another probability to construct on that manufacturing that stretches past physicality.
“We have enough skill in our line to put up points and be a contributor, too,” Edstrom told The Post. “We’re not just necessarily a power line that’s just out there to grind.”
The Rangers journey to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday for their ultimate preseason sport.
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