Well, it is upon us. Training camps have kicked off this week. Preseason opens tomorrow night. It's a good week to be an NHL fan, just 18 days away from puck drop. With the start of the new season comes all the good and all the bad with the flipping of the calendar from September to October. Every team's fans but the Oilers and Coyotes have to be feeling good about their chances (cheap shot). Optimism is abound. It's a good time to be a fan.

This post will be dedicated to the New York Rangers, the team I know most about in the hockey world; in an attempt to take an analytical approach to previewing what the 15/16 might hold in store for the Rangers.

Let's kick it off with some subjectivity...

The Rangers have backed themselves into a wall. They are right up against the cap. They have just under $26 million tied up in their defense coming into the season. A defense that on paper looks great, but struggles metric-wise under the microscope. Add in $8.5m for the best goalie in the world (money well spent here), and $7.8m tied up in a goal scorer who can't find the scoresheet consistently in the playoffs, the trouble rears it's head.

Enter the cap world NHL.

You need young players, more specifically, you need cost-controlled players to enter your lineup and perform. The performance of cost-controlled players has the opportunity to make or break the Rangers this season. Banking on the likes of JT Miller, Emerson Etem, Jesper Fast, and Kevin Hayes to take a hold of important roles on this team and run with it. One of those four players will be Derek Stepan's RW this season. Two of the other three (or all three) may round out the third line. These are important minutes, and the Rangers are going to need performances. There is no alternative.

Kevin Hayes exploded onto the hockey world as the Rangers third center last season, and was one of the most productive centers at 5v5 on a per 60 basis. The Rangers are so cap-crunched, that they may need to move him to wing, and re-visit the JT Miller center experiment. Or, possibly use Jarret Stoll in a 3C role. Stoll has recorded more than 25 points just once in the past four seasons [twice if you pace him to 82 games during the lockout-shortened 12/13 season].

Simply put, the Rangers are banking on some unknowns this season. This is a brief rundown of that.

Now, for some objectivity.