The Rangers returned to practice today in preparation for Saturday's contest against the Bruins. For the most part, the lines remained static with one change. Jimmy Vesey, who is waiting for his chance to get back in the lineup, opened up to the NY Post. The same for Mika Zibanejad, who is suffering through a nightmarish season and has become the whipping boy, along with Chris Kreider, of the team;s fanbase.
Rangers lines and D pairs at practice today:
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Zibanejad-Smith
Kreider-Chytil-Brodzinski
Edström-Carrick-Rempe
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider
Jones-Vesey
Arthur Kaliyev was off to the side during rushes. Vesey rotated playing with Zac Jones and in on 4th line, indicating they would be the scratches.
Kaliyev, who hasn;t been great, but still has an 53% xG and has shown the ability and willingness to shoot, sits for Brodzinski. I am not sure what coach Peter Laviolette saw and was thinking, but whatever it is, I disagree with it. In addition, why is Brodzinski and not Vesey in the lineup?
Power play units are unchanged: Because when it doesn't work the first time or second time or third time, you sure as heck want to keep running it back out there without trying anything new. The power play actually didn't look bad against Colorado when they had a chance to win the game. But Tuesday, wof bad and not the first time we have seen that. Yet, we are rolling it back...once again.
PP1: Panarin-Trocheck-Kreider-Zibanejad-Fox
PP2: Chytil-Miller-Cuylle-Smith-Lafrenière
Vesey was brutally honest at how sitting has impacted him. The callous individuals will just say, he is getting paid. But as an athlete, you have pride. As an individual and human being, you want to earn your keep. Right now, he is kind of a wasted asset, which also begs the question, why is he sitting again while Jonny B plays. It's a business and he knows it. But being stapled to the press box is very difficult.
“It seems that I have fallen out of favor and have just been cast aside over an extended period of time. It feels like I have no role or purpose on this team.
“I’m kind of dying by being here."
“I’ve been a good soldier here, I’ve done everything and anything they’ve asked,” he said. “This is where I’ve always wanted to be.
“But I don’t know if this is the best place for me now.”
Mika was somewhat forthcoming regarding his slump, though I would have liked him to be a bit more circumspect in his comments. I think he realizes just how poorly he has played, but is trying to convince himself that it is just a temporary slump and not a permanent decline. But as Larry Brooks noted, Zib has been off all season, even-strength, on the power-play and defensively and it's been highly noticeable. If he and Kreider don't wake up, then even if the other pieces get hot, New York won't go anywhere this season.
"I don’t think the outside noise will ever be as loud as the [self] critique of my own game,” he said. “The reason why a lot of us — all of us — are here is we’ve been our biggest critics. Not just saying that you have to be negative about yourself every time something bad happens, but it’s like understanding, ‘When should I dig in? When should I work harder? When should I cut myself some slack and be like hey, you’ve done a good job the result is maybe not there?’ ”
When things don’t go well, you’re always trying to look for an answer,” Zibanejad said. “Everyone is asking, why is that happening, why is this happening. It’s not like it’s the first time in the history of a professional career that I haven’t played well. It’s not the first time, it happens. Do I want it to happen? No. But I’m trying to work. The month of January has been about being resilient, working and trusting myself and not doubting what I’m capable of doing — and just play. Obviously, when the team plays better as well, it’s easier when you win games, it’s easier.
“The energy gets back to a higher level. The fun is more often. Just playing my game and, again, playing like I know I can.”
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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