Lias Andersson isn’t just some highly regarded 19-year-old prospect looking to make the Rangers. Rather, he is a 19-year-old, seventh-overall draft selection looking to crack the opening NHL roster after failing to do so a year ago.
This represents an important distinction. In fact, it is important enough for head coach David Quinn to have pulled Andersson aside at camp to talk about that circumstance in the hours before No. 50 took the ice with his teammates in the Blueshirts’ opening 4-3 OT exhibition victory in Newark against the Devils on Monday, during which he scored on a shorthanded breakaway and power-play rebound.