Rangers right wing Vitali Kravtsov skates against the Devils in a preseason hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 18, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
While the NHL is still wrapping up its 2019-20 season, with its final four teams battling in the conference finals in the bubble in Edmonton, hockey leagues around Europe are already starting their 2020-21 seasons. And with so many of their young, developing players not having played since the coronavirus prompted the NHL and AHL to shut down in March, the Rangers are in the process of loaning some of their better-known prospects to European teams, just so they can play some hockey.