Following the New York Rangers dominating 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night, a game in which every player on the roster had a strong game, the focus shifted to the newly recalled Sean Avery, and where he would fit in the lineup after such a strong showing. The likely candidates to sit were the usual ones: Wojtek Wolski and Erik Christensen, both of whom have been in the chateau-bow-wow this year.
The answer came in the form of tweets from practice by the beat writers: Avery was in a fourth line rotation with Andre Deveaux, another recent call up from the CT Whale. Deveaux had a very strong game on Monday, and did things that many expected Mike Rupp to do before he went down with his knee injury. It’s unlikely that Deveaux will sit after having a strong game. It is probably best for Avery, who is aware that this may be his last shot at sticking with the NHL, to bide his time and wait for Christensen or Wolski to mess up. One will. And when they do, it will be the Sean Avery show.
The question remains though: Is it going to be the 2007 Sean Avery or the 2010 Sean Avery?
After the New York Rangers demoralizing loss last night, coach John Tortorella juggled the lines again in practice, and the final product looked like this:
Wojtek Wolski-Erik Christensen-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Brad Richards-Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Derek Stepan-Artem Anisimov-Kris Newbury
These will sure to rile up some people, especially the Christensen haters. It is a bit curious to see Christensen and Wolski, who have notably been in Torts’ dog house many times over the past few seasons, on a line with Gaborik. The other thing that might disturb people is that Stepan and Anisimov appear to be on the fourth line. I say “appear” here because we know they will get more than fourth line minutes.
While many will read into these combos with disdain, let’s try and look at the big picture. There are three players on this roster that simply would not be on any competing team’s roster. There is a reason why players like Christensen bounce around the waiver wire, why the Wolski’s of the world get traded twice before turning 26, and why fringe players like Newbury go unclaimed on waivers. The reason is simply that they are not consistent players. Right now, they are roster fillers until the prospects with the CT Whale are ready.
Missing from these forward lines is Mike Rupp, who sat out of practice again today with a nagging injury. Also missing was Michael Del Zotto, who sat out with a hip flexor injury.
The big news from this morning is that defenseman Mike Sauer will in fact be in the lineup tonight for the New York Rangers after missing the the majority of the first seven games with a sprained shoulder. That means tha Jeff Woywitka will be the healthy scratch. In other injury news, it looks like Mike Rupp might miss tonight’s home opener with a nagging knee injury. That won’t effect the lineup too much though, if the lines below (per Katie Strang of ESPN NY) are what coach John Tortorella sticks with:
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Wojtek Wolski-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Erik Christensen-Artem Anisimov-Mike Rupp/Kris Newbury
It looks like one of Rupp or Newbury will be the healthy scratch against the Leafs tonight, depending on Rupp’s status. The Leafs are a tough team off to a hot start, and they are always very physical against the Rangers. The assumption with leaving Christensen in the lineup in lieu of some added toughness is to provide Anisimov with some semblance of skill on his line. Either way, it will be interesting to see how Fedotenko plays with the Richards/Gaborik connection, and how long he lasts on that top line. Expect some line juggling tonight if these don’t mesh.
In some AHL news, The New York Rangers Blog has picked up on a Norwegian website claiming that Mats Zuccarello has suffered a concussion as a result of the cheap Adam Mair hit. It is unknown how long he will be out, or the validity of the article itself. So, take it for what it’s worth.
The lineup tinkering at practice continued, with Derek Stepan stepping up to the top line LW with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik. The full lines:
Derek Stepan-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp-Erik Christensen-Mats Zuccarello
The defensive pairings remained the same, as Mike Sauer sat out another day of practice. Wojtek Wolski also sat out with his wonky groin. It is expected that Sauer will be back on Saturday when the Rangers “open” their North American season against the Islanders and the World’s Stickiest Coliseum. There is no timetable for Wolski’s return, or Marc Staal’s for that matter.
Looks like we didn’t have to wait long to see new lines. At practice today, the Rangers showed off new lines and pairings in preparation for their Friday matchup at The World’s Crappiest Coliseum (I don’t mean that as a slight against the Islanders, who may turn some heads this year. I mean that as a slight against the arena itself. My shoes stick to the ground while I’m there). The new lines are relatively expected, considering Wojtek Wolski may be out longer than expected with his lingering groin issue:
Brandon Dubinsky-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Ruslan Fedotenko-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Brandon Prust-Derek Stepan-Brian Boyle
Mats Zuccarello-Erik Christensen-Mike Rupp
The first thing people will notice is that Zuccarello is on the fourth line, and with good reason. He simply has not impressed that much after a strong preseason. His game against Los Angeles was horrible, and he did not do anything to earn more ice time against Anaheim.
It is a fair assumption that when Wolski returns, he will at least get a game with Richards and Gaborik on the top line. In fact, you can pretty much shift every person down a line on the LW when Wolski returns, and it works out for the lines. Of course, that means Zuccarello would sit, which if he continues to play the way he did in the first two games, may be warranted. It will either be him or Christensen that sees the press box.
As for defense, with Mike Sauer not skating today, the pairings were changed:
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Tim Erixon-Steve Eminger
Michael Del Zotto-Jeff Woywitka
It’s not all that intimidating, but assume the Rangers will go back to their original pairings when Sauer is back in the lineup. The depth is questionable, but with two of their top four not skating, the defense will look thin. Sauer in and Woywitka out makes a huge difference. As does Marc Staal in and Tim Erixon out. Unfortunately the latter move won’t happen for a while.
There has been a flurry of activity the past 24 hours, so let’s quickly summarize everything in one post:
- Sean Avery was placed on waivers yesterday and cleared. He has been assigned to the CT Whale. There is no known timetable for him to report or for him to seek other options.
- Stu Bickel and Brendan Bell were placed on waivers yesterday as well. Both cleared, but will remain with the roster until further notice. This is similar to what the Rangers did with Todd White last season.
- Tim Erixon has been recalled. He will be at practice tomorrow and will play this weekend.
- To make room for Erixon, Marc Staal has been placed on IR. This is also a move to save a little bit of cap space while he deals with his post concussion symptoms. There is no timetable for his return.
Also, the forward lines for Friday appear to be set:
Brandon Dubinsky-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Ruslan Fedotenko-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Wojtek Wolski-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Mike Rupp-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
The defense pairings are still relatively unknown, as Erixon has not arrived in Sweden yet.
There’s a lot of little bits and pieces of news here and there in the Rangers world. First, there are some Swedish reports saying that Mats Zuccarello fractured his hand while playing in the CT Whale’s playoff game last night (stick-tap to Nick Montemagno of Rangers Tribune for breaking this). Zuccarello will miss the remainder of the season with the injury. I asked Brian Ring (covers the CT Whale) about the injury, and while he could not directly answer, he did say that he did not expect Zuccarello to return this season.
Second, at practice today, Andrew Gross is reporting that the Rangers have new lines (again) heading into Game 5. Vinny Prospal is dropped to the fourth line, and Wojtek Wolski has been moved up to the third line:
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik
Sean Avery-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Wojtek Wolski-Artem Anisimov-Derek Stepan
Vinny Prospal-Erik Christensen-Chris Drury
Finally, Henrik Lundqvist was not named as a finalist for the Vezina trophy this season. Lundqvist had another great year –which seems to be the norm for him– posting a 36-27-5 record with a 2.28 GAA and a .920 SV%. Lundqvist also led the league in with 1 1 shutouts. The three finalists are (likely winner) Tim Thomas of Boston, Pekka Rinne of Nashville, and Roberto Luongo of Vancouver. Thomas’ numbers dictate that he will win the award, despite his mediocre second half of the season, as he posted a 35-11-9 record with a 2.00 GAA, a .938 SV%, and 9 shutouts. Rinne had a stellar year as well, posting a 33-22-9 record, with a 2.12 GAA, a .930 SV%, and 6 shutouts. Luongo had a great year with the President’s Trophy winning Canucks, posting a 38-15-7 record, with a 2.11 GAA and a .928 SV%. Luongo only had 4 shutouts.
It’s a bit surprising to see that Lundqvist isn’t a finalist for the Vezina, but all three goalies who finished ahead of him had better numbers. Voters are very number happy, and numbers means awards. Unfortunately for Lundqvist, his consistency kills him, as the Vezina doesn’t award consistency, just single season dominance. I would expect the voting to have Thomas winning, with Rinne finishing second and Luongo finishing third.
As per Andrew Gross, John Tortorella is going to roll with the same lineup tomorrow, meaning Sean Avery and Matt Gilroy are going to stay while Mats Zuccarello and Steve Eminger will be the healthy scratches. This isn’t surprising, as Gilroy has played fairly well, and Avery adds much needed grit to the lineup. People will point to the four offsides committed by Avery as a reason he should sit, but that’s a part of the game. It happens.
Tortorella isn’t sure of what the lines and powerplay units will be, and I’ll assume he will shed more light on that tomorrow. Whatever he does, it better work or this is going to be a short series.
As per Andrew Gross, John Tortorella switched up his first and fourth lines, swapping Artem Anisimov and Erik Christensen. Anisimov is now centering the fourth line between Chris Drury and Sean Avery/Mats Zuccarello, and Christensen is centering the first line with Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik. When asked about the switch, Torts was very candid, saying that he is not putting Christensen on the first line for his defensive prowess, and that they a unit that will need to generate offense.
The move isn’t unexpected –my feelings about Christensen as a first liner aside– and this line has shown that they can generate offense. The Rangers were simply shut down on Wednesday, and they need to find a way to both break through the Caps defense, and match their physicality. Hopefully this new lineup will generate more offense from the primary scorers.
The other two lines remained intact. The lines we are looking at for tonight’s game:
Vinny Prospal-Erik Christensen-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Wojtek Wolski-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Chris Drury-Artem Anisimov-Sean Avery/Mats Zuccarello
As per Andrew Gross, Rangers captain Chris Drury will return to the lineup for the first time since having knee surgery on February 4th, a surgery that was expected to keep him out for the remainder of the season. Drury will take Sean Avery’s spot, who probably lost his spot when he failed to clear the zone in the second period Thursday night, resulting in the first Atlanta goal.
Also in today are Mats Zuccarello, who was recalled yesterday, and Matt Gilroy. Per Gross, Gilroy is in today because he presents more of an offensive threat than Eminger, and can move the puck out of the zone quicker.
