IN 'D' MOOD
Rangers can rely on blueliners
It’s an enviable situation for any team, and the Rangers know that.
In most training camps around the NHL, there is a role of “depth defenseman” being fought for by a handful of veterans hanging on or young players trying to make an impression. And in most camps, that winner likely will receive a role on the third pair — in the starting lineup.
For the Blueshirts, the battle for depth defenseman is for the man who gets the honor to be a healthy scratch. That’s because the top six, the men who start, arguably are the best group of six in the league.
“Especially in the [salary] cap day and age, to be able to keep our ‘D’ corps together, it gives us a good advantage,” said alternate captain Dan Girardi, who was set to play his first preseason game of the year on Saturday night in Newark against the Devils. “We have six strong ‘D,’ we have guys fighting for the seventh, eighth spot. Anybody can get those jobs. I think we’re pretty deep on the back end.”
Girardi was set to start the game with his consistent partner, captain Ryan McDonagh, who saw his first game action on Thursday in Boston following an offseason spent recovering from a broken foot. Girardi is coming off ankle surgery — with his ankle swelling to comic proportions for the final couple months of last season — and was just about as excited as a veteran gets for a preseason game.
“You watch the games, you want to be in it now,” Girardi said. “The first one or first two, you’re like, ‘OK, it’s good to rest.’ But then you’re like, ‘I want to get in there and get the feel of the game.’ You can practice all you want, but until the physical contact in the game and all those little plays you need to make, it’s good to get those preseason games in.”
Joining Girardi back on the ice for his preseason debut was longtime teammate Marc Staal, who also had ankle surgery this summer, and his turned out to be a little more serious than first thought.
When Staal went in for the surgery, the doctors’ plan was to remove a painful bone chip. After surgery began, they found that the bone was attached to a ligament, so they had to detach the ligament, reattach it, and put him in a boot for almost four weeks.
He got out of the boot on July 15, and then had to give it some time to heal before putting his foot back in a skate. He finally got back on the ice on Aug. 10, and it has taken a while to regain the strength in his calf and thigh, having been inactive for so long.
“Preseason, you just want to get you timing, your legs, all that sort of stuff,” Staal said. “You can’t re ally do that in practice. The only way to get that is by playing. So, just trying to get our game going in the right direction.”
The good news is when the regular season starts on Oct. 7 in Chicago, Staal will be part of the group that knows each other well, and has been the foundation for the team’s success over the past four years. Keith Yandle joined them last year just before the trade deadline, and he went from a firstpair stalwart who played more than anyone on his Coyotes team to a thirdpair defenseman whose main contribution was working the point on the power play.
Add in the steady and stout Kevin Klein, and puckmoving veteran Dan Boyle — whose game rose from the ashes near the end of last season — and the Rangers have a group of six that is formidable.
“Guys like Yands and Boyle and Kleiner, they come in and just fit the system perfectly,” Girardi said. “So I think that’s a good part of our ‘D,’ is that anyone can play with anyone. There’s not really adjustment periods at all.”
Oh, and they happen to play in front of one of the best goalies in the world, Henrik Lundqvist.
“With Hanky back there and the six or eight of us,” Girardi said, “it gives ourselves a chance to win every game.”