The New York Rangers got back on the ice to practice on Sunday, after the entire team was tested for COVID. The good news is practically the entire roster was able to suit up and play. The bad news is Ryan Lindgren and Alexandar Georgiev joined Patrik Nemeth in the protocol.
Adam Fox was asked about his buddy and defensive partner and he said “Everyone who’s got it has felt fine, a lot of asymptomatic guys.” He did say that he hadn’t spoken directly to Lindgren.
Coach Gallant said “I don’t really worry about it. I can’t control when they’re gonna play or how things are gonna work…I get our team ready when we’re ready to play games .”
At practice it meant that the defense had a new look. While the Jacob Trouba-K’Andre Miller duo remained intact, they had Adam Fox playing with Libor Hajek and Nils Lundkvist skating with Jarred Tinordi. That’s a pretty radical departure from what had been a very consistent defensive lineup all season.
One issue is that Patrik Nemeth went on the Protocol List on December 18. After 10 days he is eligible to come off the list if he tests negative for the virus. That would mean that he could potentially be available to play in Florida on Wednesday.
As for the forwards, everyone is healthy and the lines in practice were the same that have been used for the last few weeks with Dryden Hunt on the right side of Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin with Filip Chytil back centering Julien Gauthier and Alexis Lafrenière.
Lines today:
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) December 26, 2021
20-93-24
10-16-29
13-72-15
17-14-21-75
With Igor Shesterkin ready to play, they won’t miss Georgiev as much, though the Rangers have one set of back-to-back games while Georgiev will be out. They play on consecutive nights against Tampa and Edmonton at the Garden on January 2-3. It’s conceivable that Gerard Gallant will give Shesterkin consecutive starts if he is playing well.
It does mean that Keith Kinkaid will get the call to be the primary backup while Georgiev is out. He last played on December 22 for the Wolf Pack, in a 6-5 shootout loss to Bridgeport.
If Lindgren and Georgiev are out the required 10 days, they will be eligible to join the Rangers on their western road trip to Vegas, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose that begins on January 6.
Coach Gallant was asked if he was concerned about the team losing three out of four before the break and his answer was “No, we were 6-3-1 in the last ten.” He then went to say that a reset wasn’t necessary, though he was disappointed that they didn’t get to play Montreal or Detroit at home.
The taxi squad
The NHL is instituting taxi squads again that will remain until the All-Star break, or about a month. Anyone on the taxi squad will be subject to waivers if they are not waivers exempt. No player can be on the taxi squad for over 20 days in the time period. All teams are limited to six players on the taxi squad.
It would be easy to assume that players like Anthony Bitetto, Jonny Brodzinski and Tim Gettinger will find their way to the taxi squad, same as last year. It’s doubtful you will see prospects like Zac Jones, Braden Schneider and Morgan Barron on the taxi squad as it will be more valuable for them to get playing time in Hartford.
Playing again
The most important announcement from the NHL was that after postponement of three games on December 29 (Columbus-Chicago, Pittsburgh-Toronto, Boston-Ottawa), the NHL stated that “All other games currently scheduled, beginning with those on Dec. 28, remain slotted to be played on their scheduled dates.”
That means Wednesday night in Florida is a go. If you think the Rangers are going to miss Ryan Lindgren, don’t feel bad. The Florida Panthers announced Sunday that Eetu Luostarin, Owen Tippett, MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau all entered the COVID Protocol. They are already without an injured Aleksander Barkov and with those four out they will be weakened considerably. Huberdeau is their leading scorer. Weegar is one of their top defensemen and Tippett and Luostarin are important depth forwards.
It should make for an interesting game. Then the Rangers follow that with a game in Tampa who will be missing Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev and Andrei Vasilevskiy. In fact, with both Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott out on the COVID list, the question is who will be in goal for Tampa?