Today, the 2019 Traverse City Prospect Tournament kicks off for the Rangers with a 3:30 p.m. showdown against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Of course, the Blue Jackets are the reigning champions of the tournament and are in pursuit of their sixth title this September. Considering how much talent there is on both rosters, this is more or less an ideal way to kick off this tournament.

The long wait is over. Rangers hockey is here.

Blue Jackets

Columbus’ roster features more than a few noteworthy players including Liam Foudy (18th overall, 2018 Draft), Alexandre Texier (45th overall, 2016 Draft), Andrew Peeke (34th overall, 2016 Draft), and Latvian goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (76th overall, 2014 Draft). However, the Blue Jackets’ highest pick from the 2019 Draft who is participating in this year’s tournament is Eric Hjorath. Why? Well, Hjorath (104th overall) was the highest pick Columbus had in Vancouver as a result of the team swinging for the fences at the 2019 trade deadline.

Unfortunately, we won’t see top Blue Jacket’s prospect Emil Bemstrom today or in the rest of the tournament. He’s out of the lineup due to a facial injury. We also won’t see Kirill Marchenko or goaltender Daniil Tarasov — both of whom finished inside of Corey Pronman’s Top-5 prospects for Columbus when he ranked the team’s farm system 25th for The Athletic.

Of note: #CBJ forward Emil Bemstrom, who will have a chance to make the NHL roster after leading Sweden's top league in goals last year, will not play in Traverse City (facial injury) but should be good to go for training camp.

— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) August 28, 2019

Texier and Merzlikins are both considered to have a real chance of making the Blue Jackets’ roster this year. So, if you’re looking for some guys to watch, look no further than

Player to Watch: Kaapo Kakko

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Kaapo Kakko is the player to watch for the Rangers in today’s game. His dominant performance at the 2019 Worlds and the numbers he put up in Liiga should make Traverse City something of a cakewalk for the Finnish forward. With that being said, he does have to adjust to the North American ice surface and he’s under a pretty intense spotlight at the moment. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some flashes of brilliance and a little taste of what we all want to see during the 2019-20 NHL regular season.

UPDATE

Kakko is not dressing for today’s game; he’s out with an illness and is day-to-day. We also have the roster for today’s game, which lists Shesterkin as the starting goaltender and has a top d-pair of Rykov and Fox. For those who are looking for the stream of today’s game, it can be found on Fox Sports Go.

Today’s #NYR lineup vs. Columbus: pic.twitter.com/Jx8qDvg1ON

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 6, 2019