Brendan returns to lineup
CHICAGO — Seventeen days and six games since he last dressed, a stretch he said was the longest he’s been a healthy scratch in his career, Brendan Smith will return to the lineup when the Rangers play in Columbus Friday night, replacing Steven Kampfer.
Smith, he of the four-year, $17.4 million contract signed in late June, sat eight of the team’s first 19 games. Alain Vigneault did not commit to playing Smith for a run of games beyond Friday.
“This is game-by-game for everybody,” Vigneault said after the Rangers’ practice here. “Logically, some
RANGERS AT BLUE JACKETS
guys have more money in the bank than others.”
That built-up stock by other players was a factor in Kampfer being the one to come out of the lineup, according to Vigneault.
“If it was strictly on (Wednesday’s) game, Kampf wouldn’t be coming out,” Vigneault said. “There were quite a few players that I thought didn’t play as well as he did. But in the six games prior to that and a couple before, the guys had played good.”
So Smith will have to show Vigneault something Friday night, along with the rest of the team after the coach was displeased with most of his players’ performances aside from the Rick Nash-Kevin Hayes-Mats Zuccarello line in the second half of Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks, a game that was tied 1-1 heading into the third. Smith will slide into Kampfer’s spot aside Marc Staal while the other pairs and lines stay intact.
Itching to return, Smith has to strike a balance between playing urgent and not trying to overextend himself as he attempts to improve upon his poor start to the season.
“That’s the hardest thing to do,” Smith said. “Whenever you’ve sat, for whatever period it’s been, you want to kind of prove yourself that you should be there on a day-to-day basis, but you’ve got to play your own game. So there is that happy medium.”
Smith had been open about his frustration about sitting the last few weeks but tried to remain upbeat, crediting his wife, family, friends and Paul Carey — with whom Smith has been working out during extra skates on game days — for helping him do so.
“If you’re grouchy or grumpy, you’re bringing down other people too,” Smith said. “I tried not to do that and I think I did a good job of staying positive.”