The Rangers are in Dallas tonight to face the Stars. A little more than a week ago, this match up lookedbto be an early reunion with Mats Zuccarello. But now, the meet up will only be off the ice with Zucc sidelined following surgery to repair a broken arm. Alexandar Georgiev, off his brilliant performance in the shootout loss to Washington, will be between the pipes again.
David Quinn Post-Practice:
Henrik Lundqvist will be on the bench for the second straight contest. His remarks evidence an understanding as to the situation the Rangers are in. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to play, far from it, but going with Georgiev more often makes sense. “Obviously, I want to play, but I understand the situation we’re in and working for the future. So I’ve just got to work hard during practice and try to be ready when they want me to play.
Lundqvist’s poor February, during which he went 1-5-2 with a 3.14 goals-against average (GAA) and .907 save percentage in eight starts, is somewhat a driver for his cut in playing time. But a bigger component is Georgiev’s improved play since the All-Star break, resulting in him starting for the fourth time in six games. He has earned the additional time between the pipes. Lundqvist and Georgiev likely will split the starts the rest of the way, meaning that this will be the second straight team that Lundqvist fails to win 30 games in a full campaign.
With Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast receiving maintenance days, the lines yesterday were jumbled. Lias Andersson was on the wing, which Quinn, in his post-practice remarks above, noted should be a rare occurrence. The interesting piece of Quinn’a comment was him reminding the press that Filip Chytil is a center, despite him seeing much of his playing time at wing. The key moving forward for New York, as we have discussed a lot, is finding a second center. Can Chytil be that player? Will that individual come in the draft or in free agency? Can Ryan Strome, with nine points his last 11 games and very solid since moving from wing back to the pivot, fill that role even with all the depth still down the middle in New York? To me this is a huge question that must be resolved this offseason or next, same with a first pair blueline.
Kravtsov and the ELC. Lots of chatter on this yesterday now that Traktor has been eliminated from the KHL playoffs. Below are a few tweets on it and a carve out from what Brooks wrote. The key is making sure that Kravtsov does not need to be protected in the expansion draft regardless of if he burns year 1 of the ELC, so the total number of games played, regardless of in Hartford or New York or both, matters. In addition, Kravtsov may need the rest after a long season, but getting him to the US to help acclimate him would be a wise idea.
Brooks:
Kravtsov, who turned 19 two days before Christmas, is not eligible for an entry-level contract slide. Hence, the Rangers would burn the first year of his deal by signing him this year, regardless of how many NHL games, if any, he would play.
This assumes greater relevance because of the 2021 expansion draft regulations for Seattle that are the same as were in place for Vegas in 2017. Players who have completed one or two years of their entry-level deals are exempt, but those coming off entry-level must be protected or are eligible to be claimed.
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