The New York Rangers dropped their second game in a row to the Boston Bruins, but they lost much more than the game.
Center Derek Stepan, one of the most important Rangers, was injured in the second period on a late hit from Bruins’ forward Matt Belesky.
After the game, Alain Vigneault announced that Stepan suffered broken ribs and would be out indefinitely.
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The loss of Stepan is a killer for the Rangers, and it will be interesting to see how Vigneault decides to juggle his lines without his number-one center.
Outside of Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan McDonagh, Stepan is key to the Rangers.
Last year, we wrote about how vital Stepan was to the Blueshirts’ offense.
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The stats are pretty cut and dry. The team performs better with Stepan in the lineup. His vision is second to none, he plays against other teams top-defenseman every night, and he can play in every situation, making him one of the more underrated two-way centers in the game today.
So, how is Vigneault going to replace Stepan, one of his most valuable players?
New York Rangers
Luckily, Vigneault has a good amount of options given the fact that the Rangers have so much versatility.
Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller have both played center for parts of their young career, and Oscar Lindberg has been playing as the third-line center for the past couple of games.
Either of those three would be good choices, with Hayes and Lindberg being the likely two candidates.
Hayes could definitely slide into the center spot on a line with Chris Kreider and Miller, an all-American line that has had each of the three play with the other for portions of the last two years, not on the same line.
Both Hayes and Miller are playmakers, which would be a good fit for Kreider, who desperately needs someone to distribute the puck to him.
The other option could be Hayes sliding up to the number-two center spot between Fast and Kreider. This would leave the Miller-Lindberg pair, which has clicked lately, together while adding Emerson Etem, who will get to stay in the lineup now because of the Stepan injury, on the wing.
This would leave Viktor Stalberg with Dominic Moore and Jarret Stoll on the fourth line.
It will definitely be an experiment whichever option Vigneault chooses, but the latter might be the best option. This would give Hayes two players that he is familiar with centering, and Vigneault will also get to keep Miller and Lindberg together to anchor the third line. Thus, giving the Rangers some semblance of depth.
Also, Etem will have an opportunity to showcase his skills, something he hasn’t been able to do since coming over in an offseason trade from the Anaheim Ducks.
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The loss of Stepan cannot be overstated, but Vigneault is lucky he has some options to play with.
The Rangers play may suffer going forward without Stepan out of the lineup. That is where the team’s depth will need to step up to fill the void.