GUT 'CHECK
So the Rangers are 3-0 since Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko began lining up on the wings of No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad.
Of course, not all of the team’s spurt of success can be drawn back to a single line, no matter how good their numbers are. But after spending much of the season searching for the right combinations, the current top six that features three key members of the young core is certainly an arrangement that has earned a lengthy trial. For better or for worse, this is something the organization has to do.
Aside from Lafreniere and Kakko, Filip Chytil has assumed the highly coveted middle-man job next to Artemi Panarin in five of the past seven games. It spoke volumes when head coach Gerard Gallant reinserted Chytil into the same spot after he missed two contests due to a lower-body injury.
The promotion of Chytil, however, has bumped Vincent Trocheck out of the role that played a major part in drawing him to New York. After signing a seven-year, $39.375 million contract with the Rangers as a free agent from the Hurricanes, Trocheck said getting a chance to play with a talent like Panarin is something “everyone would dream of.”
Still, the veteran center knows that this was a decision that was made for the betterment of the team.
“When things aren’t going well, we weren’t winning games, it’s just a matter of trying to get something going and trying to spark the team maybe or trying to figure out if something else works better,” Trocheck told The Post before the Rangers defeated a depleted Avalanche team in a shootout Friday night in Denver. “For me, personally, I don’t think there’s a line combination that I’ve had that I would feel bad about. Obviously, we have a lot of really good talent on this team, and I think all our top three lines have a good mix of players that could easily be considered as a first, second, third line.
“I think moving away from Bread, obviously he’s a world class player and I love playing with him. I love to play with him. So getting moved away from him stinks in a sense, but in another sense, I get to play with [Chris Kreider] and [Jimmy Vesey]. There’s not a line combination out there that I’m going to be upset with.”
Trocheck, who is fifth on the Rangers in points (18) and has the highest faceoff percentage among the team’s most frequent draw takers (56.5 percent), said he’s liked where his game has been at. The chemistry between the new No. 16 and Panarin wasn’t immediate, which it usually isn’t among new teammates, but it was clearly time to switch things up in order to alter the trajectory of the team.
The numbers for the PanarinTrocheck duo weren’t necessary bad, but they weren’t balanced enough. In 289:10 of ice time together, according to Natural Stat Trick, Panarin and Trocheck were on for 10 Rangers goals and 14 against while getting out-chanced 158-140. It’s difficult not to compare to the old No. 16, Ryan Strome, who simply seemed to complement Panarin a bit better than Trocheck has.
To come into a new team that not only beat his former club, the Hurricanes, in their run to the conference final, but also one that has so far fallen short of such high expectations, being the newcomer in a group that is desperately trying to find its footing can’t be easy. But Trocheck is on board with whatever it’ll take to get there. “Maybe,” Trocheck said of the notion. “I mean, expectations and reality are different things a lot of times. I think the team that went to the Eastern Conference finals last year was obviously a lot different than this team. Lost a few big pieces. I just think coming in this year is a matter of us building to a point where we have the team chemistry, and we’re playing all the same ways that they were in the playoffs last year. “So I think it’s still a work in progress, and we’re still trying to get to that point.”