Lefty Skjei looks all right on off-side with McD’
RANGERS NOTES
PHILADELPHIA — The Rangers got a glimpse of what might be the solution to the right-side vacancy on their top defensive pair when coach Alain Vigneault shifted lefty Brady Skjei to his off-side to skate with Ryan McDonagh for Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over the Flyers.
“It feels pretty natural to me now,” Skjei told The Post after a solid 19:44 of work in which he went plus-three while paired with the captain. “When I made the switch for the first time the second half of last year in Hartford, it took a little time to get used to, but it doesn’t seem like a huge change for me anymore.
“And it’s obviously a lot of fun to play with Mac.”
The 22-year-old, 2012 firstrounder played a couple of games on the right for the Rangers in last year’s playoffs. He also played on the right with McDonagh on the Blueshirts’ mid-November, threegame western Canada swing.
The move was made in the absence of Marc Staal (upper body), but after the travails that have befallen both Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein as McDonagh’s partner, the time would have been right.
“There are pros and cons to both,” the rookie said. “But I enjoy it.”
The final determination awaits, but it is possible Pavel Buchnevich will be cleared for a conditioning assignment for AHL Hartford while the Rangers are on their bye week, which begins Sunday.
Buchnevich, who has missed the past 26 games and 31 of the Blueshirts’ first 41 while dealing with disk and core issues, will undergo an MRI exam within the next couple of days, the results of which will inform general manager Jeff Gorton’s decision on the matter.
The rookie winger, who has eight points, has not played since Nov. 12. The Wolf Pack are in Providence on Sunday and in Rochester next Wednesday before playing a pair of games in St. John’s the next weekend.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, conditioning assignments may last up to 14 days. In addition, players on IR are permitted to rehab and skate at their respective teams’ facilities during the bye week.
The Rangers are expected to practice on Friday before traveling to Columbus to meet the Blue Jackets on Saturday. That practice likely will determine whether Rick Nash, who missed a seventh straight game with a groin issue, will be available to play.