New York Rangers: Chytil, Desharnais and center depth

Unless New York Rangers Head Coach Alain Vigneault has a change of heart, it appears that rookie Filip Chytil will be sent back to the Czech Republic. With David Desharnais his heir apparent, how will this affect the team’s center depth?

The New York Rangers’ season has not gotten off on the right foot. At the time of this writing, the team has lost five contests and won one, all in ugly fashion.

One underlying aspect to both of their earlier losses is the play, or lack thereof, of 18-year-old rookie, Filip Chytil. He has only played 12:39 total over the first two games, all at even strength. He was then a healthy scratch for the team’s third game and later sent down to the Hartford Wolfpack.

The young Czech didn’t register a shot on goal, let alone a point, despite being penciled in as the second center with Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello.

The fact of the matter is that Chytil must play if he is in New York. This isn’t to say that he needs to earn his ice time per se, but to have him with the Rangers and then not play him, is hindering his development.

The team seems to realize that he must play, and on Tuesday assigned him to the AHL after signing Adam Cracknell and releasing Andrew Desjardins. It is unclear how long Chytil may stay with Hartford, whether this is a stint or part of his long term development plan.

He might still head back to his native Czech Republic. This will likely occur after he has played his first nine NHL games or some unknown number in the AHL.

Should this come to pass, free agent acquisition David Desharnais will likely slide up the third line center spot. Then, Kevin Hayes will subsequently take the role of second line center.

With the center depth already an area of concern, how much will this shuffling of players affect the Rangers?

Related Story: How Filip Chytil can stay on the roster

David Desharnais, 3C

Coming into this season, David Desharnais was acquired to flesh out the Rangers’ bottom six. The diminutive center is an outstanding option as a fourth line center. However, he is also a solid option as a third line center.

Desharnais matches OwnThePuck’s archetype for a third line center almost exactly. Although aging, Desharnais has shown he can pile up points with the right players and right opportunities. The former Canadien and Oiler has totaled 254 points over 455 career games.

Desharnais, with say some combination of Jimmy Vesey, J.T. Miller, Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello or Rick Nash, would compose a versatile scoring line.

In addition, increased even strength minutes would likely reduce Desharnais’ powerplay ice time. Not that Desharnais is a bad option, but looking at the Rangers’ roster, there are plenty of other players such as Hayes, Vesey, Nash, and Brady Skjei who deserve some/more powerplay time.

There is not much concern with Desharnais replacing Chytil in the top nine. However there is some concern about how it affects the rest of the lineup.

Related Story: Kevin Hayes needs to avoid being the odd man out

The Effect on the Top-Six

The real concern with the Rangers and their Stanley Cup aspirations was always their top two centers, not their bottom two. This is a big reason why a Chytil for Desharnais swap isn’t as vital to the team’s long term success.

Zibanejad is already thriving in his role as first line center (small sample size alert), so now the question is his consistency. However, if he can maintain his current level of play, then that is one area the Rangers won’t have to worry about.

This reshuffling of the centers will likely throw Hayes back into the second line center role and its increased responsibilities.

While it might be uncomfortable for him and the Rangers at first, it may ultimately be for the best. This is because Alain Vigneault has tried to shoehorn Hayes into a role as a shutdown center. After a full season of this experiment, it is evident that this is not Hayes’ forte.

If it is not Hayes, then probably J.T. Miller is shifted back to center (where he has played at times during the preseason and regular season) and bumped up a line. He, like Hayes, would be out of the team’s ideal role for himself, but he still has a shot to prove he can handle the increased responsibility.

However, should Hayes and/or Miller struggle, there is no immediate help on the horizon. This obviously puts the Rangers in a bind, which other teams will look to exploit.

Related Story: 5 Lineup decisions that could dictate the Rangers season

The Domino Effect

Similar to how the top two center depth is in jeopardy, so is the bottom two. The Rangers appear to have options for those spots, depending on how they deploy Hayes and Miller.

The first option, as mentioned, is to promote Desharnais to the third line with Hayes on the second. Then the organization promotes someone from Hartford, likely Boo Nieves, to center the fourth line.

The second option is to line Miller up permanently at center on the third line. This will likely then promote Jimmy Vesey to Miller’s wing. Desharnais would then stay as the fourth line center.

The third option, as mentioned above, is that Miller shifts to center but on the second line. Again, however, this scenario still leaves Hayes miscast as a shutdown third line center. Here Desharnais remains the fourth line center as well.

Each is a viable strategy, more so than the options for the top-six. However, while bottom-six depth is essential for a long postseason campaign, the caveat is that they are needed to augment an existing strong top-six.

Bullet Dodged

Fortunately, this reshuffling shouldn’t affect the roster as badly as it could have even a few days ago. The Rangers picked up Adam Cracknell from the Dallas Stars off waivers and as a result, released Andrew Desjardins.

I won’t go into the details of why Desjardins isn’t a good fit for the Rangers. However, it’s not difficult to imagine a scenario (a need for grit, toughness and veteran presence) where he would have made his way into the lineup, likely at Chytil’s expense.

However, despite the fact that his inclusion in the lineup is likely at the expense of Chytil, Cracknell on the other hand, is a perfectly serviceable fourth liner. It remains to be seen what happens with Paul Carey now that Jesper Fast is back. If the team opts not to play either Cracknell or Carey, it won’t represent an appreciable diminishment of strength to the forward corps.

Next: What to and not to worry about the Rangers start to 2017-18

Either way, these first few games are critical to the rest of the Rangers’ season despite it only being October. Should Chytil get another opportunity and make the most of it, the team would be well poised to make noise in the playoffs. If he isn’t recalled or is sent away, the subsequent roster shuffle could put the organization in a tough bind with no easy solution.