The Rangers head to Chicago on Wednesday for a match up against the Blackhawks. Following that contest, New York gets another stiff test on the road against the Blue Jackets. After those two games on the road, Nee York heads home for four of their next five games. But following that stretch, they will need to become road warriors, as most of their early schedule has come at the comforts of MSG.
The lineup we have seen during the win streak will be what’s on the ice Wednesday. What that means is Brendan Smith is scratched again, Boo Nieves will be at center, Jimmy Vesey’s mouth, cut by Zack Kassian’s boot and tip of his skate, causing him to lose two teeth, has healed enough for him to play and Henrik Lundqvist is back between the pipes. Each of these have different ramifications, which I will cover below.
Smith - it’s not the ideal to have a high-priced defenseman, one who the team paid $17.4 million over four years to re-up with the squad, sit in the press box. But his early season play warranted that move. As we discussed, the rumor is that Smith came into camp out of shape, impacting his play and helping to cause his slow start. He is now working his way back into shape and the hope has to be that this time off the Ice and just working on the side should enable that to occur.
With the team winning and both Nick Holden and Steven Kampfer playing well enough to remain in the lineup, Smith remains on the sideline and rightly so. Eventually, be a loss or injury or poor play by one, Smith will get another chance. When that happens, he will need to play with that physical edge we saw last year while looking a lot better in own zone. If s change isn’t forthcoming soon, get Smith to agree to go to Hartford on a ‘conditioning stint,’ so he is sharp when he is out in the lineup.
I don’t necessarily agree that a move has to be made right now with Smith to move him elsewhere. First, if the 10 or so games Smith played this year is enough to convince Alain Vigneault and GM Jeff Gorton that a trade is needed, then was last year’s play just an aberration? Now, questions as to Smith’s prior play and upside traveled with him to NY after the deal last season, but I though what we saw down the stretch and in the playoffs put those questions to rest. Also, unless New York gets a requisite return for Smith, you are likely selling on the cheap and won’t get a fair package back. If the goal is to free up cash to use later this year or in the future, that may make a less than optimal return worth it, but I still think Smith has value the remainder of the year and especially in the future.
Nieves’ call up and play has enabled AV to utilize four lines. The lineup still gets shortened in the third period if New York is looking to rally, but rolling 12 forwards for at least the first two periods keeps the players fresher for the final stanza. Nieves has been fairly responsible defensively, bringing a bit of a physical presence that was lacking to the lineup. He has meshed nicely with Michael Grabner and Jesper Fast on a line that should remain together.
New York is light at forward. No one in the minors has stood out enough to be promoted, though Vinny Lettieri may be next in line. If Vesey was unable to go, Paul Carey would opt back into the lineup. But Vesey finally seems to be rounding into form playing alongside David Desharnais and J.T. Miller. That trio still needs to produce more, but after a slow start. they seem to be meshing a bit. Desh has stepped up his game while Miller and Vesey each should be able to provide more. If a change is made, namely bringing in a player, this is where that skater likely fits in. But like the Nieves’ line, the Desh combination has lengthened and stabilized the lineup; at least enough so that the top-six isn’t touched.
As I wrote yesterday, with three days off between games and just four contests in a 14 day span, Vigneault turning to Lundqvist against the Blackhawks comes as no surprise. That outing will be the seventh straight start for Lundqvist, who like the team - you determine the chicken and egg here - is rounding into form. Backup Ondrej Pavelec has not played since he got two starts in a row Oct. 26 and 28. As Hockey Stat Miner and Adam Herman pointed out, Lundqvist has played more tan 80% of the team’s minutes so far and is on pace for 69 starts, the most since 2009-2010, when he was 27.
Before the year started, we talked about the importance of the backup goalie and the need to try and keep Lundqvist in the 58 or so start range. Vigneualt’s heavy use of Lundqvist has less to do with Pavelec, even though he hasn’t been great, and more so to try and right the Rangers ship due to the poor beginning. If AV doesn’t trust Pavelec, then Gorton has to get another back up. This was an area of concern after free agency, but one where we really haven’t seen enough of Pavelec, even though his rebound control in the games where he did play wasn’t good, to make to make a true call on him. Vigneault needs to give Lundqvist some rest in the near term so he isn’t burned out for the the stretch and hopefully postseason run.