The Rangers aim for their second straight win North of the Border against the Maple Leafs. Will Cuylle, New York's third-round pick, 60th overall, was promoted yesterday and will make his NHL debut in front of his home town. To make room for Cuylle, Sammy Blais was sent down to Hartford on a conditioning stint.
Lines:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Kreider
Lafrenière-Chytil-Kakko
Vesey-Trocheck-Goodrow
Cuylle-Leschyshyn-Gauthier
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Harpur-Schneider
Shesterkin
Halák
Scratches: Blais, Hajek
Cuylle, who had 13 goals and 20 points through 39 appearances with AHL Hartford, should be hyped for the game in general, but especially since he will be playing in front of his hometown fans. He should bring a physical presence and is a better fit on the bottom-six. That point was mentioned yesterday when coach Gerald Gallant discussed Vitali Kravtsov, who is expected to be the healthy scratch tonight.
Kravtsov is miscast on the fourth line. We all know this. But who in the top-six is he replacing, as the second line when he was on that trio didn't do all that much, resulting in the shuffled lines starting with Monday's game.
“He’s been fine,” Gallant said after practice in Tarrytown on Tuesday. “But again, he’s not a fourth-line player. When Cuylle comes up, whether it’s Kravy coming out or [Julien] Gauthier coming out, Kravy did OK, he’s played OK. But he’s not built for a fourth line. He’s built to play in a top-nine position. If we decide that’s something that’s going to shake down tomorrow, then we’ll see. He’s been fine, I wish he’d score more, I wish he’d finish more checks and stuff like that.”
The suggestion to send
Blais down for a conditioning stint had been made for a whole. Blais, who hasn’t been the same player since suffering a season-ending ACL tear 14 games into the 2021-22 season (thanks PK Subban), had to agree to the AHL stint, during which the 26-year-old wing will likely skate in six games through the NHL bye week. Three keys with this move are: 1) Blais is still getting paid his NHL salary; 2) he still counts against the salary cap and the roster count, meaning the Rangers are now carrying the max 23 players and not accruing as much cap space as possible with 39 days until the trade deadline; and, 3) New York gets to see if Cuylle can be a fit this season, albeit in a small sample size, or would benefit from more seasoning in the minors.
After Friday's game against Vegas, the Rangers are off until Monday, February 6. after that game, New York could opt to send Cuylle down in kind of a paper move to restore the roster to 22 players and accrue his cap savings for the week. Hartford plays tonight, Friday and Saturday, then are off until Wednesday, They are in action Feb. 1, 3 and 4 before starting their All-Star break until Feb. 10. Blais should play until Feb. 4, which gives him six games in 10 days, at which point a decision on his status will likely need to be made.
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