BACK TO WORK
Rangers' Shattenkirk set to play first game since left knee surgery
Bridgeport on a Saturday in September probably wasn’t on Kevin Shattenkirk’s bucket list, but the defenseman won’t pass up the short trip to Connecticut for a preseason match against the Islanders.
For it will mark his first game action since Jan. 18, after which he left the Rangers’ lineup in order to have surgery on a torn left meniscus that had essentially ruined his first season on Broadway.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Shattenkirk said after Friday’s training-camp session. “It’s something I haven’t been able to experience in a long time, but I think I’ll be able to remember what it feels like. I’m going to enjoy it, keep it simple and build from there. I’m not about to try and wow everyone from the start.”
Shattenkirk wowed no one in his Blueshirts debut last year after signing his fouryear, $26.6 million free-agent deal worth an annual $6.65 million cap hit on July 1 in what was widely interpreted as a coup. The New Rochelle native was neither ever 100 percent nor remotely looked it after trying to play through the injury he sustained during the second week of training camp.
Other than a short stretch in November when the effects of a cortisone shot restored his powers, Shattenkirk could not beat forecheckers or defend. His work running the powerplay point was compromised. He was an imposter out there. Surgery performed on Jan. 22 mercifully ended Shattenkirk’s season.
“I feel like I’m in the same position I was at this time last year in that I haven’t shown people who I really am,” said Shattenkirk, who posted the worst possession numbers of his career while recording five goals, 18 assists for 23 points in 46 games. “But I’m healthy now. I can’t tell a difference between the two knees. There’s nothing I have to worry about as far as reinjuring it.”
Shattenkirk, who played for David Quinn when the Blueshirts’ new head coach was an assistant at Boston University, talked about the need for him to be a leader and to set an example for the team’s younger players. Indeed, the eight-year NHL veteran had started talking the importance of holding players accountable when he spoke at last season’s breakup day. Fair enough, if No. 22 sensed that dynamic had broken down during the year.
But while setting an example represents part of every veteran’s job description, the Rangers first and foremost need Shattenkirk to be effective on the ice. They need him to be a weapon at the point and drive the even-strength offense from the back end.
They need him to be capable enough in the defensive zone, as he generally was on the second pair in six-plus seasons with the Blues, so that the coaching staff doesn’t have to go into contortions to keep him away from matches against the opposition’s top six, which Alain Vigneault was forced to do a year ago. They need him to be the player they thought they were signing.
Shattenkirk lined up on Brady Skjei’s right side for 29 games last year while playing eight with Marc Staal, seven with Brendan Smith and two — the first two games of the season — with Ryan McDonagh. Barring an unforeseen development, chances are Skjei will pair with Adam McQuaid — who also will make his preseason debut in this one — on the first matchup pair while Shattenkirk skates with Smith or Staal. Staal or Smith (or Fredrik Claesson) would then play with either Neal Pionk or Tony DeAngelo on a defense that is expected to start eight-deep.
“Coming off an injury when he didn’t play at all in the second half last year, those guys are usually a little bit behind, but he’s getting better and making progress every day,” Quinn said. “I’m looking forward to seeing him play.”