Rangers ‘itching’ for Staal return

Coach David Quinn said he’s itching to get Marc Staal back into the Rangers’ lineup as the veteran defenseman begins eyeing his return.

Staal has been sidelined for three weeks since undergoing surgery to cure an infection in his ankle, which festered from a cut he sustained on a blocked shot earlier in the season. Quinn is hoping to give Staal a full week of skating and practice before getting him back into a game.

But Staal has his sights set on playing as early as next week.

“I feel good,” Staal said following Thursday’s Thanksgiving practice. “If everything goes well, I have to talk to the doctors and everyone, but next week — assuming if everything goes well should be good to go.”

Thursday was Staal’s third day skating, but his first official practice with the team since having the surgery on Nov. 8. He mentioned it wasn’t the first time he suffered a cut from blocking shots, but he had never had the injury escalate the way this one did.

“I’m itching to get him back,” Quinn said. “Obviously, he’s a guy that brings an awful lot to the table. When you put a team together, you can’t put all the same types of players together. He’s a guy with a lot of experience. He’s got size, he plays well, he defends well, he does a lot of good things for us. So I’m itching to get him back.”

Quinn was particularly thrilled with how Mika

Zibanejad’s return to the Rangers’ first line opened up the use of the other three lines in Wednesday’s win over the Hurricanes.

“It’s amazing what one player does, especially a center,” Quinn said. “All your lines look different. Just standing behind the bench, not that I hadn’t felt comfortable before, but there’s another level of comfort that you feel as a coach when you’ve got those four lines.”