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Rangers face Red Wings, Chytil expected back in lineup while Lindgren's out |
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The Rangers look to rebound from a 5-2 loss to the Bruins on Thursday when they face the Red Wings on Sunday. Detroit comes in off a 3-0 whitewash of the Islanders on Saturday. New York will be without Ryan Lindgren, injured against Boston, but should welcome back Filip Chytil, who missed the last four games after getting injured versus Columbus two Sunday ago.
Probable Lines:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Vesey - Chytil - Goodrow
Blais - Carpenter - Gauthier
Chytil proclaimed himself 100% in practice today and should be in the starting lineup tomorrow. Vince Mercogliano noted in his column that Chytil was sporting a new tinted visor on Saturday to help shield his eyes from any sensitivity to the light. Reading that makes me wonder if he truly is fully healthy, but maybe it's a precautionary measure to avoid any possible impact during games. His return comes at a key moment as the team has struggled offensively, especially 5x5 and in the bottom six, without him.
As Mercogliano added, the most recent third-line trio of Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Julien Gauthier has not registered a goal in 30:27 time on ice together, according to Natural Stat Trick. Couple that with the 5x5 struggles of the top line - through 12 games,Mika Zibanejad has yet to score at five-on-five while Chris Kreider has one goal - and the return of Chytil can't come soon enough. Saturday’s practice featured Chytil centering Vesey and Goodrow, with Gauthier dropping down to the fourth line to play with Sammy Blais and Ryan Carpenter. This means Ryan Reaves, who should be benched, will be in the press box.
Vitali Kravtsov practiced Saturday for the first time since sustaining his upper-body injury on Oct. 29, albeit in a non-contact jersey. With so many players dealing with injuries, nagging but still in the lineup and others day-to-day or missing time, the Rangers are in a bit of a cap crunch. Mercogliano noted that The current 23-man roster leaves them with just $173,801 in available cap space, according to CapFriendly. New York is unable to add an extra player due to that limited amount of cap space. None of the injured players look like candidates for LTIR, and until they get fully healthy, no one will be sent down, either directly or after passing through waivers. But once Kravtsov is back. I wonder if Ryan Carpenter, since Barclay Goodrow can center the fourth line, or Julian Gauthier, are the odd-man out.
Gauthier, despite better play since his recall, is the only current bottom-six forward who would not require waivers to be reassigned. That’s because he already cleared last month, with his waiver clock not restarting until he’s played in 10 NHL games (he’s halfway there at five) or 30 days have passed since his Oct. 26 recall. You know who I think should be gone, but the Rangers don't appear in any rush to make that move.
Miller-Fox
Jones-Trouba
Hajek-Schneider
Lindgren is missing Sunday's game after suffering an upper-body injury on the hit below. David Pastrnak was clearly upset after a clean check and retaliated with a blind side hit on Lindgren. The extent and exact nature of the injury has not been made clear. Lindgren is being called day-to-day, which means nothing. Could be shoulder or chest or whiplash due to the type of hit. Regardless of the injury, due to the lack of cap space. Matthew Roberston, Andey Welinski or Ben Harpur are not able to be promoted, leaving Libor Hajek to rejoin the roster.
With Lindgren out and Jacob Trouba missing practice. - again -, Adam Fox and K'Andre Miller skated together. Fox has played almost exclusively with Lindgren since Fox joined the team for the 2019-2020, while Miller and Trouba emerged as an exclusive partnership late in the 2020-21 season. We have spoken before about how Miller and Trouba struggled down the stretch last year as well as in the playoffs. Those issues did not abate this season, prompting many of us to suggest splitting up the two might be wise. In addition, Trouba has missed several practices the last few weeks and could be playing through a minor injury, adversely impacting his play.
Fox and Miller have not skated together major minutes in the past but have shown enough where that duo might be an interesting pairing. They’ve logged a combined total of 173:37 together at even strength in the past three seasons – and while the Rangers have been outscored, 8-9, in those situations, the underlying numbers are solid (58.54% shot share and 51.82% xGF). If Fox and Miller remain together as a duo,the question then becomes who should pair with Trouba. Do you go with Lindgren and Trouba, but that duo lacks foot speed, or do you move Jones, who has been better lately, up a line and play him with Trouba? This would then leave Lindgren with Braden Schneider.
In net, I expect Jaroslav Halak to get the nod with Igor Shesterkin playing against the Islanders.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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