The Rangers kick off the post-trade deadline portion of their schedule tonight on the road against the Devils. All three acquisitions from Monday - Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun - will be in the starting lineup. As such, a few line shuffles and players sitting are part of the equation.
At New York’s morning skate, the forward line rushes were pretty much in line with what we predicted yesterday:
Kreider - Zib - Lafreniere Panarin - Strome - Vatrano Copp - Chytil - Hunt Motte - Goodrow - Reaves
Sitting tonight will be Greg McKegg, Julien Gauthier and Jonny Brodzinski. Decisions will be tougher when Kaako Kappo and Kevin Rooney are ready to return, hopefully early next month. But the third line is now markedly deeper than just a day or two ago. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see Goodrow on the third line with Hunt replaced by McKegg at times, since McKegg can play the pivot.
Vince Mercogliano tweeted the below response from coach Gerard Gallant on center vs. wing for Copp. Not a big shock that he opens his New York tenure on the wing as the team still plans on giving Chytil additional leash and time to see if he can play center. I would expect a change in a week or two if Copp is better suited to manning the middle and think he sees key draws irrespective of where he lines up.
"We're going to talk about it over the next while. I asked him this morning. He prefers center, like a lot of guys do, but he said either wing is fine, too. He just wants to play and help the team as much as he can."
The defensive pairs in practice were also what we thought might happen but had hoped for a different result. Braden Schneider will sit tonight with Justin Braun replacing him on the right side. Patrick Nemeth therefore will remain in the lineup.
Lindgren-Fox Miller-Trouba Nemeth-Braun Hà¡jek-Schneider
Mollie Walker tweeted Gallant’s response on why Schneider is out tonight in favor of Braun.
"He's played a lot of games for us and he's shown a lot. It doesn't mean because we brought Braun in that Schneider is not going to be in our top six. It's going to be about competition."
Gallant prefers veterans, giving Nemeth an edge over Schneider. Plus, Schneider did struggle this past weekend - as did Nemeth - and also may be in need of a few days off to watch and learn. In addition, Braun gets to acclimate to the team’s system next to a veteran. My hope is two-fold, first, this new pairing plays well together. Second, Schneider rides the pine for a short span of time before he is back in the lineup.
New York beat New Jersey 3-1 on Friday, March 4. The victory was not easy as the Devils put lots of offensive pressure on the Rangers and the game tonight should be tough as well. Igor Shesterkin somewhat stole the win in the last meeting between the two sides, so the Blueshirts will need to bring their A game for the divisional match up. After tonight’s contest, a home game against the Pens and Rickard Rakell for second place in the division is on the docket Friday.