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Rangers notebook: Artemi Panarin leaves practice with injury

Artemi Panarin left practice with what the New York Rangers called a lower-body injury. He didn’t return, but coach Mike Sullivan said he’s not worried.

“He’s just day to day with the lower-body injury,” Sullivan said. “It’s more precautionary than anything. It’s so early in training camp. We just want to make sure… we get ahead of anything that could potentially be on the radar.”

There was no word about whether Panarin will practice Saturday or play in the preseason opener against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Sunday afternoon.

To say that losing Panarin for any length of time in the regular season would be a disaster is an understatement. The soon-to-be 34-year-old left wing led the Rangers with 37 goals and 89 points in 2024-25, though those numbers were a big drop from the 49 goals and 120 points he piled up in 2023-24. He’s also entering the final season of his seven-year contract; general manager Chris Drury said earlier this week that he wasn’t divulging anything about talks concerning a new contract.

Panarin was idled by the same kind of injury near the end of camp last season but piled up 15 points in the Rangers’ first eight regular-season games. He’s missed just two games during the past three seasons.

Other news from the second day of Ranger training camp:

Sullivan outlines roles for his assistants

Much of Sullivan’s post-practice media scrum consisted of detailing what roles assistant coaches David Quinn, Joe Sacco and Ty Hennes will play this season.

Quinn, who worked with Sullivan in Pittsburgh last season after spending two seasons coaching the San Jose Sharks following his firing by the Rangers in 2021, will handle the defensemen and the power play. Sacco, who wasn’t retained after serving as interim coach for the Boston Bruins last season, will be in charge of the forwards and the penalty kill.

All three have one thing in common: They played at Boston University, as did Rangers GM Chris Drury.

Hennes’ ties with Sullivan go back to 2018-19, when he started as a skating and skills coach. He mostly led skills drills and injured players’ rehab skates for four seasons before being promoted to an assistant role in 2022-23. “Ty is going to wear a lot of hats,” Sullvan said. “He’ll be very involved with skill development and player development, but also he does some tracking of statistical things for us manually that we value.”

Sullivan said his new group is already working well together.

“I really like our staff,” he said. “I think there’s a chemistry that’s so important among the coaching staff, just like a group of players. I like the group that we’ve assembled. I think everyone, they get along pretty well. We have some laughs, but when it’s time to go to work, we go to work.”

Will Cuylle likely to start season in top six

One of the few positives from last season was the development of second-year forward Will Cuylle, who reached the 20-goal mark and set a Rangers record for hits in a season with 301. He began the season on the third line but spent much of the second half of the season in the top six – and Sullivan said that’s where he’s likely to begin the new season.

“He’s big, he’s strong, he’s powerful,” Sullivan said. “He plays a solid, straight-ahead game. He goes to the net. He’s physical. Every team in the League loves to have those type of players.

“As far as the role he’s going to play on the team, I think he’s going to play a similar role to the one he played last year. I think he’s a power forward (who) we can use around the lineup. I would envision him playing in the top six, at least to start, and see where it goes.”

Sullivan talks coaching role with Team USA

The new Rangers coach will be handling two jobs this season: He’s also been named as coach of Team USA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics — repeating the role he played in February at the 4 Nations Face-Off, when the United States lost the gold medal game to Canada in overtime.

He was asked if being coach of Team USA would add another layer to the coach/player dynamic.

“It’s something I’m definitely aware of, but I’m not sure what that dynamic means to our relationships,” he said. “I can speak for myself — I’m going into this now and my main focus is on the New York Rangers, and I can assure you that everything we’re doing is on the New York Rangers. We’re going to do everything we can to try to bring what we can to the table every day to help move this team forward.”

Sullivan said Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, the GM of the Minnesota Wild, “also has a group of managers that I think are very experienced and knowledgeable in building these types of teams; they will have voices in those decisions also. So although I will have some influence, ultimately those decisions will primarily be Billy Guerin’s. I don’t foresee the relationship between the players we have that are challenging for those roster spots having a huge impact.”

Dave Starman to succeed Dave Maloney as Rangers radio analyst

If you watch the NHL Network’s coverage of the World Junior Championship, you’re undoubtedly familiar with Dave Starman, who’s excelled for years in his role as analyst for Team USA’s games. He’s also worked for CBS Sports, among other media outlets, and covered the WJC for NHL.com. Now you’ll hear him on a regular basis; he will take over as the Rangers’ radio analyst with play-by-play announcer Alex Faust.

Starman is succeeding Dave Maloney and Faust will do the same for Kenny Albert; the longtime radio pair are taking over the TV side after the retirements of Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti following the 2024-25 season.

Dave has also been an NHL scout, is a member of USA Hockey Player Development staff in New York State and has spent 25 years as an instructor with the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program. He knows the game inside and out and should prove to be a worthy successor to Maloney.

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