Following a three day stretch of no games played after falling to the Bruins 3-1, the Rangers are back at it on Garden Ice as they host the Florida Panthers for the second time this season. Before getting too much into tonight’s game, let’s wrap up a somewhat eventful weekend despite the lack of games played. Friday afternoon the Rangers hosted their first open practice at MSG in a very long time. The last time I remember the Rangers hosting an open practice, they did so at Playland in Rye, NY, Bush was president and I was getting autographs from Dave Karpa and Petr Nedved. That being said, it’s been a while. While I wasn’t there for this one, from the looks of it, it seemed like a great time. However, with Julien Gauthier coming off of IR, it was likely going to be the last practice for one of the Rangers depth players.
There was lots of speculation that the Rangers were considering waiving Sammy Blais, whose contract would save the Rangers a lot of money in terms of the salary cap but as we found out yesterday, Jonny Brodzinski would fall victim to the Rangers cap juggling as he was put to waivers and eventually sent to Hartford. A tough decision but at the end of the day, a pretty insignificant one in the sense that the Rangers are essentially deciding who would benefit more from playing in Hartford versus staying with the team, spending most night’s in the press box. Many fans were expecting this to finally be the end of Sammy Blais’ run with the Rangers as Brozinski has proven to be a valuable depth piece but at the end of the day, the Rangers would rather not risk losing Blais for nothing.
I’m not going to get too into the whole Sammy Blais debate. I’ve been a big defender of his for most of the season but at this point, it’s becoming clear that he just isn’t going to make a significant impact in terms of offensive contributions. However, at the end of the day, this is a guy with experience, who was a part of a Stanley Cup winning team and is coming off a major injury. While that can’t be a crutch (bad pun, sorry) for his shortcomings on the ice, it is a reminder that the Rangers are looking at this as their first real season with him and while it hasn’t paid off for them yet, it does appear that they’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt more often than not. $1.5 million is a high price to pay for a thirteenth forward but unless they decide to trade him, the chances of him hitting waivers or going to Hartford are pretty slim.
Aside from that roster decision, there is plenty more to talk about as Gerard Gallant didn’t hesitate to switch up the lines once again but this time, with an audience! During the Rangers open practice and in the skates that followed, the Rangers have reunited the Kid Line and stacked the top line:
Panarin - Zibanejad - Kreider
Vesey - Trocheck - Goodrow
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Kravtsov - Leschyshyn - Gauthier/Blais
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Harpur - Schneider
Lots to unpack there. For starters, it was quite clear after the Bruins game that Gerard Gallant was not happy with the chemistry of the second line. (Panarin-Trocheck-Kravtsov) He said they needed to get better and that things aren’t working which became pretty evident throughout their last game. It appears for now that they won’t get the chance to figure things out as Gallant has once again turned to the blender. I have no problem with putting the Kid Line back together and from the sounds of it, it seems like they enjoy playing together as well. However, there is zero reason that a line of Vesey-Trocheck-Goodrow should be seeing the ice more than Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko. It’s not beneficial to the young players' development and it’s asking way too much of guys like Vesey and Goodrow. Additionally, stockpiling your three best forwards usually seems like a good idea, but in the Rangers case, really isn’t.
We all know that part of the Rangers struggles in solidifying a lineup is the fact that Panarin, Kreider and Lafreniere all prefer the left side. Nothing about that has changed except for the fact that Gallant is once again, attempting to force his top three forwards together. He’s tried it before, he’s tried it when the game isn’t going the Rangers’ way, and time and time again, it always seems to flop. Gallant has given Panarin and Kreider the choice to decide which of them will move to the right side and in recent practices it appears they’ve both taken runs at it. We’ll see how it looks tonight but frankly, I’m not confident it’s the best move for the Rangers going forward. How Gallant opts to manage ice time between his top three lines will absolutely be something to keep an eye on as there’s no question the Kid Line needs to be out there more than a typical third line should.
As far as that fourth line goes, it appears Sammy Blais will once again be scratched as Julien Gauthier returns to the lineup. Special teams to many fans disdain all look the same and one other surprise came from Jaroslav Halak being the first goalie off the ice at yesterday’s skate. Per Rangers beat writer Vince Mercogliano, it appears that Halak could get the start against Florida tonight which may come as a surprise to some fans. Although, with only three games remaining before the All-Star break, it makes sense to get Halak in for one of them and with Toronto and Vegas being the other two opponents, the Panthers are definitely the safest bet.
You also have to wonder if the Rangers are going to pay heavier attention to distributing the workload to both goalies in the second half of the season to avoid overplaying Shesterkin.
So, we know what to expect from the Rangers, what can we expect from Florida? Well, the Panthers have not had the best follow up to their Presidents Trophy winning season last year. They’re currently three points out of the playoff picture and have less games in hand than most of the teams in the Eastern Conference. They’re coming off a 5-3 win at home against Minnesota on Saturday and have gone 7-2-1 in their last ten. Much better results than they’ve shown in different stretches throughout the season but nevertheless, they’re a team that needs to be playing better than they have been. The last time they saw the Rangers, they fell short and lost 5-3 as a result of a big night from the Blueshirts top players. With those three now being on the same line, the Panthers could have a better chance at managing their matchups and could give New York a tougher time.
The Panthers don’t have great numbers but they are eighth in the league in goals for which means the Rangers will need a strong night from Halak as well as a sharp night defensively. It hasn’t been the expected names leading the way in Florida as of late which could be good news for the Rangers. Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart have been players to watch as of late with eight points from Reinhart and three goals from Lundell. For the Rangers, it continues to be Adam Fox leading the pack but Filip Chytil has snuck into the lead for plus minus. You have to wonder how he along with Kakko and Lafreniere will perform now that they got the band back together.
Florida kicks off an East Coast back to back tonight as they’ll head to Pittsburgh tomorrow and with both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight injured, the Rangers could have a very strong advantage in net. Either Alex Lyon or Mack Gudza will get the start tonight so the Rangers need to take advantage and look to get their offense going early and often. As the race in the Metro continues to be tight and the Panthers remain out of the playoff picture, both teams should be pretty hungry for those two points which should result in some good hockey tonight.
Chris Feldman
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