We are tantalizingly close to real-life, players-on-the-ice hockey. Or at least hockey practice, and after nearly three months of waiting, we will take what we can get.

As far as the Rangers go, the prospects-only portion of training camp, which begins Wednesday, will be more interesting than such a thing deserves to be for a team that was two victories away from the Stanley Cup Final in June. That is in part due to the abundance of young players acquired in the franchise’s recent rebuild and to the salary-cap casualties that occurred over the summer, which potentially could see some of the younger players competing for a roster spot.

The conservative math on the team’s eventual 23-man roster gives us 17 names to write in pen and six more to pencil in — with room there for someone else to grab a spot, particularly at forward. The math here assumes good health.

The 17 roster locks are as follows: Igor Shesterkin, Jaroslav Halak, Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Barclay Goodrow, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Ryan Reaves, Sammy Blais, Alexis Lafreniere.