Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Game 45: NYR-DAL, News roundup, Zib returns to lineup

January 16, 2017, 9:37 PM ET [857 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers returned to practice after having Sunday off. New York will look to right the ship, following a pair of bad losses over the weekend. The Blueshirts get an immediate chance to do so Tuesday against Dallas.

The AV lines blender was working a bit Monday, New York welcomed back Mika Zibanejad, who missed 26 games with a non-displaced fractured fibula. As a result, Marek Hrivik was waived yesterday, but passed through waivers and was sent down to Hartford. With Hrivik down and Zib back, it was between Oscar Lindberg and Brandon Pirri as to who would be the healthy scratch. The lines below reveal who is sitting"

Rick Nash-Mike Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner-Kevin Hayes-JT Miller
Jimmy Vesey-Brandon Pirri-Jesper Fast

For now, Lindberg is the odd-man out. The odd part is that the fourth line is now a mish-mash of players. Vesey is better suited to an offensive game, as is Pirri, though his production has fallen off a cliff. Fast is more defensive minded but can chip in a bit. To me, Lindberg would have been a better option, because he has more of a two-way game, since he can cycle and chip in offensively, is defensively responsible and fairly solid between the dots. That fourth line is a hybrid of what AV likes to use, so the combination is not a great fit, but created because of all the depth. It wouldn't shock me to see Vesey moved up and Grabner down in the future. Pirri may be in to be the right-handed shot on the PP, as noted directly below.

I said in the comments to my prior blog that I don't understand some of the hate for Fast on the blog. He is a perfect fourth line player, occasionally can move up to the third line but is miscast elsewhere. Kills penalties extremely well, which adds to his value. Now if you wanted to argue that Marek Hrivik does some of the same things, I likely would agree. But the focus and hate on Fast in general and especially given the other issues on this team in my opinion is extremely misguided.

The new PP units are: Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello-McDonagh and Pirri on the first unit and Buchnevich-Miller-Nash-Clendening-Zibanejad,. The Rangers missed Zib's one-time on the right side. Pirri gets another chance to keep his spot, but if he doesn't produce on the PP, he likely will head to the bench, replaced by Lindberg. In that case, slide Zib up, Clendening to the point on the second unit and maybe try Skjei or Holden on the left point or add back Hayes.

Marc Staal & Matt Puempel skated prior to practice, as both are still in the concussion protocol. AV did say that he expects Puempel to practice Wednesday with the team. Though, and this is my view not his, it may be in a non-contact jersey. When Puempel comes back, it will be interesting to see if he does play, since that would give New York 14 healthy forwards. It's possible the Rangers attempt to get Pirri through waivers, but given Puempel's concussion history, do you really want to the chance of losing Pirri and then have Puempel be sidelined again?

With Staal out, the Rangers' penalty kill has suffered as have the combinations. AV opted to put Girardi back with McDonagh, which has been an unmitigated disaster. But Skjei too has struggled, leaving New York searching for a top-two, d-man. Normally, Staal would be with Nick Holden. With Staal out since January 3, Holden has played with Clendeing and Girardi, neither pairing showing much. What to do? Well if AV is going into the blender, why not try Holden-McDonagh, Clendening-Girardi and Skjei-Klein? None of the pairings to date have been succession, so why not mix them up some more

Raanta, who suffered a lower-body injury Saturday, will only miss 7-10 days. The term "only" is used because it sure seemed like he would miss a lot more than that. The Rangers play Tuesday, Thursday (@Toronto), Sunday (@Detroit), Monday (Los Angeles) and Wednesday (Philadelphia) and then it's the All-Star break. Since Raanta will miss 7-10 days, it's doubtful he returns during that stretch of games. As such, AV will ride Lundqvist for these next five games as call-up Magnus Hellberg serves as the door man on the bench.

Lundqvist has spoken about the need for better focus and to get into a rhythm. Well, here is his chance. AV hopes to run him out there every day, even on both end of a back-to-back. In addition, tomorrow he faces Dallas, which means Cody Eakin, who knocked him out of the December 15 with his hit behind the net. If seeing Eakin and the Stars can't help Lundqvist focus, very little might. This is a key stretch for the Rangers. Columbus has come back to earth a bit but Washington is red-hot. Philly has hit the skids but Carolina is on a roll. The goal is to regain some momentum and at a minimum maintain the lead in the Wild Card spot, or at best, enhance it. Given how hot Washington is, first in the Metro looks to be a lost cause as well. Getting a big cushion, so that a cold spell doesn't have a major impact should be one goal but having Lundqvist right the ship and team regaining their edge are the main ones right now.
Join the Discussion: » 857 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Jan Levine
» Rangers face Avalanche as Ryan Lindgren returns to the lineup
» Rangers clinch playoff berth with barn burner 6-5 OT win over the Flyers
» Rangers face Flyers with chance to clinch playoff berth
» Rangers rally twice to defeat Panthers 4-3 in a shootout
» Rangers ride hat trick from Panarin and play of Quick to 5-2 win over B’s