When Jeff Gorton was asked, earlier this summer, about which players at development camp could make the roster, he mentioned European free agents Michael Lindqvist and Ville Meskanen.
Gorton said that the Rangers like the two of them "a lot."
Meskanen, 22, was signed out of Finland after scoring 24 goals and 20 assists last season.
He said that the Rangers are the team that gives him the best chance of playing in the NHL and that the team was looking for players just like him. (Kiekkoreena)
Meskanen said that his confidence right now is "at it's peak, "that he thinks he can do "good things" for the Rangers and that if he wants to make the Rangers he will have to "give everything." (Leijonat)
Clark said that Meskanen has "a lot of talent" but that his "body has to catch up." (NY Post)
As a 20-year old, Meskanen was described as a "scorer" and when he signed an extension to stay in Finland, earlier this past season, he was called a "rising star."
Lindqvist, 23, was signed out of Sweden where he had 20 goals and 14 assists in 33 games.
He has said that he hopes to make the Rangers out of training camp but understands that some players need to start in the AHL.
In 28 games to start last season in the SHL, Lindqvist scored 30 points before going down with an injury that had him miss four games, return to score four points in three games, miss three games, play one game and then miss 16, including the start to the playoffs.
He returned for two playoff games where he had 2 goals and 1 assist.
In those 28 regular season games he had 61 shots on goal and averaged 15:53 per game.
Last season Lindqvist trained in Dallas with the Stars' Mattias Janmark and went into this past season in good shape and started the season on the first line and PP. (Aftonbladet)
Adam Rotter: These two will be very interesting to watch in training camp because they are a bit older than some of the other Rangers that will be vying for spots and they have experience playing against men already. They are both offensive players and would be best served playing in those roles, so if those spots aren't available with the Rangers they would probably benefit from starting the season in Hartford. They are both wingers, and the Rangers have more flexibility on the wing than they do down the middle, so they will likely get a good chance in training camp but ultimately their play will dictate where they end up.