MIX & MISMATCH
Finding spot for Clendening no easy task
The Metropolitan Division has become so good it’s self-mutilating — at least for the Rangers.
So coach Alain Vigneault has struggled to find any scenarios that exist in his “ideal world,” where players can rest and stay healthy and be ready come springtime. In addition to the condensed schedule, Vigneault also hasn’t had any time to watch his players practice, so he was happy just to see defenseman Adam Clendening back taking a regular turn Thursday, when the team finally practiced for the first time in nine days.
Clendening, who has played just three times since Oct. 22 and just eight of the first 35 games, was on the second power-play unit and was paired at even-strength with a rotating left side of Nick Holden and Brady Skjei. Vigneault said Holden will definitely play on Friday, when the Blueshirts take on the Wild at the Garden for the final game before the three-day Christmas break.
But he was hardly affirmative on Clendening playing, and if he did, Vigneault said there were “two or three guys” who could come out of the lineup.
“I wanted to give him a good look,” Vigneault said of Clendening, before adding that he wanted to watch the Wild’s game against the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday night, with Minnesota riding an eight-game winning streak, before he made a lineup decision.
“One of the hottest teams in the league coming into our building,” he said, “so I’ll put my mind to it.” It hasn’t been easy for the 24-yearold Clendening, who signed a one-year, $ 600,000 deal this summer following previous stints with the Blackhawks, Canucks, Penguins and Oilers. But it’s been made somewhat easier by the fact that the Rangers are 23-11-1, and are nestled near the top of this cutthroat division.
“It’s never easy,” Clendening told The Post. “I think I understand what it is, and it’s a winning team when you’re rolling, you really don’t mess around with things. Knock on wood, everybody has been healthy and the team has been having a lot of success. I think personally it’s like a double-edged sword — it’s always fun to be on a winning team and I think everybody in here believes we have something going on here that might last a while.”
Yet lasting a while — as in, deep into the playoffs — means the Rangers need to stay moderately fresh and moderately healthy. That was the goal when Vigneault said in October that veteran righty Dan Girardi would occasionally sit out games for “precautionary” reasons following his early-season hip and groin issues.
Yet Girardi has played every game since Nov. 8, and has been steady compared to his slog through the previous season.
“Again, when you talk about these scenarios, you’re always talking about in an ideal world,” Vigneault said. “And right now, in my ideal world, in my division, it’s crazy. So, I mean, you just look and nobody is losing. ... So this resting thing — everyone is trying to get in. So you have to play what you feel is your best lineup, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to win games.”
If Clendening finds his way into the lineup, it could be for another veteran righty, Kevin Klein, who was a healthy scratch on Dec. 1 as the direct result of some poor play. Yet if Clendening plays, his main purpose would be to be the point man on the second power-play unit, the place Skjei currently occupies.
This is all making it difficult for Vigneault to find a good time to get Clendening back into the lineup, despite having liked what he has seen of his game when given the chance.