Tomorrow night is game 1 of the 48 game sprint to the playoffs.  The Rangers open on the road in Boston with the full expectations of a deeper run than the eastern conference finals exit at the hands of the Devils last season.  

New York will be without forward Aaron Asham for the opener. (1 game suspension remaining from last season) It was originally speculated that Stu Bickel would take his place on the 4th line, however the Rangers want him on defense only and recalled Brandon Segal from the Whale. It's safe to say that Bickel will be in the lineup over Gilroy for his size, grittiness and toughness against a chippy Boston team to say the least.  Segal gets the first call up of the season after high remarks by Tortorella for his work ethic; so it will be interesting to see how that plays out if anything.

The Rangers start this season loaded up front with a healthy Gaborik and a rearing to go Rick Nash. couple that with Richards, Callahan, Hagelin, Krieder, Stepan, Pyatt, Boyle, Rupp, Halpern and a backend with Del Zotto in the fold, Girardi and Staal at 100%; all sights will be set on the Stanley Cup.

 (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

With ratification complete and the MOU signed sealed and delivered, the NHL regular season campaign will kick off January 19th, 2013. After official release late last night, teams were given the green light to open "official" training camps this morning.  

The Rangers will open their season in Boston on the 19th, with the home opener coming the following night against Pittsburgh.  

There are 13 games slated for Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. with many marquee matchups.  NBC will air two games at 3 with Philadelphia hosting in state rival Pittsburgh. Defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles will host Chicago in their long overdue banner raising opener.  CBC will air Ottawa at Winnipeg with Montreal hosting Toronto at 7 p.m. Boston kicks off NHLN's coverage at 7 against New York.  Parise and Suter make their Minnesota debut hosting Colorado at 9 p.m.

The Rangers will play 18 divisional games, with 5 against both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and 4 against both the Islanders and New Jersey.

Penguins - Jan 20, Jan 21, Mar 16, Apr 3, Apr 5 Flyers - Jan 24, Jan 29, Mar 5, 26, Apr 16 Islanders - Feb 7, Feb 14, Mar 7, Apr 13 Devils - Feb 5, Mar 19, Apr 21, Apr 27

For the full NHL regular season schedule click here.

On your mark. Get set. Go.

According to the Boston Globe, the New York Rangers will open its 48-game season against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 19 at the T.D. Garden in Boston. The puck will drop at 7 pm.

The report, according to ESPN New York, cites a team source stating the Bruins have been informed of the matchup by the NHL.

What a matchup to start the season. Aside from opening with an Atlantic Division team, the Bruins are the second-best option. 

If history means anything, don't expect much scoring between these two teams. It may just take a Rick Nash goal to separate the two teams.

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Remember Wade Redden? How could you not?

If there were ever a play who was doomed before ever pulling the Rangers sweater over his head, it's Redden. In the summer of 2008, Redden signed a six-year, $39 million deal that carries a cap hit of $6.5 million per season through next season.

We all know there was no way Redden, who was already showing signs of decline entering the back-nine of his career. After peaking in 2005-06 with 50 points — his only 50-point NHL campaign — Redden's production dropped to 36 and 38 points, respectively, over the next two seasons.

Then came the contract, and in his first season in New York, Redden put up just 26 points and was a minus-5 in 81 games. The following season was worse, as he put up just 12 points in 75 games. It was his final in the NHL.

The Rangers were able to bury his contract in the minor leagues, thus avoiding the high cap hit in the process. 

That was then and this is now, as new CBA rules prevent teams from burying players in the minors by charging AHL salaries in excess of $900,000 to NHL caps. What that means is the Rangers will be charged about $5 million in cap space this season for Redden, whether he's on the team or not.

The Rangers should give Redden the opportunity to make the squad out of camp because they are going to paying him regardless. Yes, he's a shell of his former self, but why not?

We know the top-four of Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal and Michael Del Zotto are locks, but the bottom three are question marks.

Is Redden no better than Stu Bickel, Anton Stralman or Steve Eminger? Of the three, Eminger gets the upper-hand because you know what you're getting from him. 

Head Coach John Tortorella showed last season he doesn't trust Bickel, who is probably better served as a seventh defenseman who dresses for rivalry games.

Stralman was great in the playoffs last season, but is wildly inconsistent. 

Redden would bring a veteran presence to a still very young defensive corp. He's a guy who has had success in the playoffs, having appeared in one Stanley Cup final with the Ottawa Senators.

TSN's Bob McKenzie said the Rangers have three options, including trying to find a trading partner to take Redden, which would all but require them to give picks and prospects to entice a partner.

The second option is to bite the bullet, pay him and send him back to Connecticut, which is risky because if he gets hurt, they may not be able to buy him out next year.

The third option, according to McKenzie, is to keep him around but don't play him.

All are viable options, with the third probably being the best. But in my opinion, you must give him a shot to make the team. You can never have too much defense, especially a veteran presence.

The guy still has something left and plenty to prove. If the Rangers are going to get anything out of this contract, now is the time.

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The King has arrived.

Henrik Lundqvist, along with Dan Girardi and Stu Bickel, joined his teammates today for Day 2 of the team's informal skate at its Tarrytown practice facility as the team prepares for a shortened 48-game schedule expected to begin Jan. 19.

"I think it's important you're ready right away in a short season," Lundqvist said, according to Rangers Rants. "you want to get a good start and ride it out. The season usually goes into different phases. You have the start and then you have a section in between the start and finish. Now, it feels like it's all one package, even though 48 games is still a lot of games."

With the shorter season, many have begun to speculate how many games Lundqvist will start. Luckily, the Rangers have a solid backup in Martin Biron, so giving him a start ever week or so doesn't spell doom for the Blueshirts in a season where one could argue wins and losses are even more important than in previous years.

"It's definitely going to be a challenge," he said, "but you can't worry about it. Go out there and have fun and realize you're back at it. I'm really happy about it, that we finally find a solution here and we can move past" the lockout.

Lundqvist did not play overseas during the lockout, despite invitations to play for his former team, Frolunda. He said he isn't thinking about that anymore.

"It would have been a cool experience to join my brother and play there," he said. "Even then, I always talked about what's best for my preparation for me to be ready here. I don't know. We'll never know."

Expectations are running pretty high for the club this season following last year's success and the addition of Rick Nash. But Lundqvist said the team must keep its feet on the ground.

"We probably need to stay humble and I think it's going to be important how we handle that pressure," he said. "The pressure we put on ourselves and the pressure from the outside. We had a great year but we worked really hard for it. We have to realize that's why we had success."

Lundqvist is really the only guy on this team you don't have to worry about. He's the definition of consistency, and despite being a historically slow starter, I expect him to come storming out of the gate.

I was lucky enough to watch him play at the Operation Hat Trick game in November, and he looked better than ever.

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Although the NHL lockout is all but finished, Rangers fans have another negotiation to keep a close eye on.

The team and defenseman Michael Del Zotto were unable to come to terms prior to the Sept. 15 lockout, and thus the two sides must find common ground over the next week and a half to strike a new deal.

“It’s not a normal circumstance with half the season gone,” Del Zotto said to Rangers Rants. “I’m in the same situation we were before. We’re just trying to get a deal that’s fair for both sides. I know I’m ready to play as soon as possible."

Del Zotto likened his current situation to that of the CBA talks. “It’s just like CBA negotiations, as long as we’re in the same room…” Del Zotto added. “You want something fair for both sides. Hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

He declined to hint at whether or not a deal would be consummated before training camp begins, which is expected to be Saturday.

The Rangers and Del Zotto will come to a deal, and I believe it will happen before camp opens. Its imperative for all players to be involved in training camp in a season like this. If a player gets off on the wrong foot, they could be in a mess of trouble.

Del Zotto should skate with Marc Staal on the second pair, and be the top defenseman on the powerplay. Holding out would be a mistake in my estimation.

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For the first time in nearly four months, members of the New York Rangers were able to skate wearing the red, white and blue.

The team held an optional skate this afternoon at its Westchester practice facility, which was attended by 15 Blueshirt, including Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal.

“It’s one thing to be out skating and wondering when things are going to happen,” Nash told reporters after the skate. “But it’s a lot different out there skating and knowing the season’s going to come. It seems like everybody had a little extra jump.”

In addition to the players, head coach John Tortorella was also present for the skate. He said the team would "be prepared" for the start of the season, which is expected to begin on Jan. 19. According to Blueshirts United, he even admitted to missing the players.

Training camp is expected to officially begin this Saturday after both the NHL and the players' association ratify the collective bargaining agreement that was agreed to on Saturday morning, followed by a 48-game schedule starting a week later.

The fact the NHL will be back within the next two weeks still feels surreal, but watching video and reading quotes from an actual Rangers practice is making this feel more real.

There's no doubt this will be a sprint to the finish, and it appears players understand that and are ready for the challenge.

The waiting is over.

At about 4:45 am EST, the National Hockey League and its Players' Association reached a tentative new collective bargaining agreement.

"We still have a lot of work to do," Commissioner Gary Bettman said, "but it's good to be at this point." He and union head Don Fehr spoke side-by-side to announce the tentative deal that still needs some fine tuning and ratification from both sides.

"We got through it," Doan said. "The emotion of it, you kind of ride the roller coaster of it up and down, but you kind of sense things were going in the right direction and you want to make sure they kept going in the right direction."

The deal came after a marathon session of about 16 hours with federal mediator scot beckenbaugh, who will no doubt be viewed by hockey fans as a folk hero.

The deal is for 10 years with a mutual opt-out after year eight. With only a half seasonbeing played this season, the deal is essentially another seven years because both will most likely opt out when they have the opportunity to do so.

Some other sticking points are a seven-year cap on contracts for unrestrict free agents, while teams can re-sign its own players for eight years. The salary cap in year two of the deal, which the League wanted to scale back to $60 million, will be $64.3 million. The players wanted it around $65 million.

Contract salary variance is capped at 35 percent from year to year, with the provision that the last year can't vary more than 50 percent from the highest-salaried year, a source told ESPN.com.

Revenue sharing will spread $200 million, with a $60 million NHLPA-initiated growth fund included.

Teams will have two compliance buyouts starting this summer.

The start of free agency will remain July 1, while participation in the Olympics was not part of the agreement. Both sides will discuss whether or not players will be eligible as the 2014 games get closer.

"You knew you were in that position, and I think as a union we got the best deal we could possibly get, and you're happy," Shan Doan told ESPN. "You're just excited to play hockey again and do what you really enjoy and have a passion for."

The two sides are now determining whether to have a 48 or 50-game schedule. It is believed a 50-game campaign would begin Jan. 15, while a 48-game schedule would start Jan. 19.

Now we can finally begin to start talking about hockey as a sport and not a negotiation process. 

I'm not going to over-analyze everything, but I'm especially glad the salary cap in Year 2 increased to where it is now. That would have hurt many teams, including the Rangers, moving forward.

All in all, we're all just happy hockey is back.

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Reports all day are that bargaining has been positive from both the National Hockey League and the Players' Union to end this lockout that began back in September.

According to The Fourth Period, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said there has been progress made.

"Theres been movement," Daly said, and "the process is moving again."

TSN reported last night there were about seven or eight issues that still needed to be resolved before a deal could be reached.

TFP believes the League has lessened on the $60 million salary cap for the 2013-14 season.

There are eight players in the meeting today, including Shane Doan, Ron Hainsey and Martin St. Louis.

There is still a black cloud hanging over the talks, though, as a vote to allow the NHLPA to dissolve concludes at 6 pm.

We've been down this road before, but the positive here is there really isn't a ton of time left. If you believe Gary Bettman, the season will be cancelled on Friday if no deal is reached.

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Remember Wade Redden? 

According to the NY Post, the Rangers could have a big problem on its hands with the defenseman once a new collective bargaining agreement is reache between the League and the NHL Players' Association.

Under the terms of the NHL's proposed CBA, the Rangers would be charged $5.875 million for Redden even if he is assigned to the American Hockey League, where he has played for the last two seasons. The salary cap for a potential shortened season is expected to be about $70 million.

The cap hit would leave the Rangers with a little over $5 million to sign Michael Del Zotto and any other depth players.

Redden is entering into his fifth year of a six-year, $39 million deal he signed with the Rangers in 2008.

The League has proposed a one-time buyout for each team, but that would happen following this season, if it is played.

The League has also proposed a $60 million salary cap starting in 2013-14, though the PA is expected to counter with an $65 million proposal.

Another reason the organization I'm sure is looking back on that signing and shaking its head. You'd have to figure if the team must pay him that much that he'll be given a shot to make the team, but we'll see.

******

The Post also reported defenseman Michael Sauer is expected to miss the entire season — again if there is one — with post-concussion syndrome following an injury that now occured more than 12 months ago.

If there was one black cloud last season, it was Sauer's injury. He had turned into such a strong, rugged defenseman at the time of his injury. He's a guy that fought his way onto the team, and to lose him like that was a blow. Hopefully it isn't the end for him, but things are not looking great.

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