A lot remains unclear about the 2012 NHL Winter Classic, but the Daily News has learned that the league’s preference is for the Rangers to head to Philadelphia and face the Flyers in the annual New Year’s Day showcase.

With the Blackhawks, Bruins and Red Wings all having taken part in past Winter Classics, the Rangers are the only Original Six team from the United States yet to play an outdoor regular-season game. There has been talk since before the old Yankee Stadium was torn down that the NHL would like to stage a Winter Classic in the Bronx, but college football’s Pinstripe Bowl makes that an impossibility until at least the 2014-15 season.

The NHL would be more likely to wait to see if the Pinstripe Bowl becomes a permanent fixture than to consider a Winter Classic at Citi Field or the Meadowlands. Among the reasons for that patience is that the Islanders would want to be involved in a Queens game and the Devils in New Jersey. In order to generate maximum TV ratings, the NHL would prefer to have the Rangers and would prefer to have them face an opponent from another market. (Source: NY Daily News)