The Rangers face the red-hot Kraken at MSG tonight. Seattle comes in having won nine in a row before falling 3-0 to Pittsburgh last night, The Kraken are playing shorthanded, as they are without Matty Berniers, Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn and Philipp Grubauer. Chris Driedger gets the call between the pipes with Joey Daccord having started yesterday. For New York, Igor Shesterkin, off an excellent performance Sunday against the Capitals, will be in net.
Rangers lineup vs. Kraken Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière Cuylle-Bonino-Wheeler Vesey-Goodrow-Brodzinski
Lindgren-Fox Miller-Trouba Gustafsson-Schneider
Shesterkin Quick
Scratches: Pitlick, Jones LTIR: Chytil
Tyler Pitlick was on the ice in a regular jersey today. While he won't suit up against the Kraken, he could be in the lineup Thursday in Vegas. Once Pitlick is in the lineup, you have to wonder who will get the press box nod. Barclay Goodrow could use a game or two off but it's more likely that Jonny Brodzinski will be the one wearing a suit.
Yesterday, Filip Chytil posted a picture of him with Jaromir Jagr and skills coach Radek Duda on the ice in Czechia. Chytil is progressing but there is no timeframe for his return to action. Until clarity is provided on his status, GM Chris Drury is somewhat hamstrung from making a deal and eating up cap space. Once/if Chytil is cleared to return to the US and practice, my view is that he will be anywhere from 2-4 weeks away from game action, barring a setback.
The NHL trade deadline is March 8, the final game of the regular season for the Rangers is April 15. If Chytil is not cleared by the beginning of March, we can fairly safely assume that if he does make it back, it won't be until the playoffs, where his cap hit won't matter. Even if slightly before that, New York can slow play his return to make sure that he won't impact the current cap. But until then, unless definitive word is provided that he won't be back. Drury has to juggle available cap space and shop at the dollar store to bolster the bottom six forwards and possibly third pair blueline
Larry Brooks in NY Post Sports+ had an interesting nugget on the Rangers' schedule. Based on how the remainder of the games are laid out, New York should be fairly well-rested. Their last back-to-back is March 16-17, about a month before the playoffs start.
When the Rangers finish their upcoming four-game sojourn out west to Vegas, L.A., Anaheim and San Jose that follows tonight's match at the Garden against Seattle, the Blueshirts will have 20 of their final 35 games at the Garden, including eight of the final 12.After this upcoming trip, the club will have just three games out of the Eastern time zone, with one apiece in Chicago, Colorado and Arizona. The relative home cooking should help the team stay fresh down the stretch, given the lack of major travel.
The first of the three games out of the Eastern time zone is February 9 in Chicago. New York then has seven weeks of contests in their normal time zone before contests in the Mountain Time Zone against Colorado and Arizona on March 28 and 30. They then play the last two weeks of the regular season in the east with six of the eight games at home and one road game at UBS Arena.