With Vincent Trocheck placed on LTIR with an upper-body injury, the New York Rangers’ top-six forward core were forced to adapt.
When Trocheck was in the lineup, it gave the Rangers flexibility to play J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad together, who both wanted to play alongside each other.
However, Trocheck’s absence left a gaping hole at center, which caused Mike Sullivan to split up Zibanejad and Miller.
“He’s an extremely talented guy,” Sullivan said of Trocheck. “He plays in a lot of key situations for us, one of our best center icemen in the faceoff circle, and obviously plays in every situation — the power play, the penalty kill, and part of our top six. So those guys aren’t easy to replace…
He originally had Zibanejad playing alongside Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière, while J.T. Miller played with Will Cuylle and Conor Sheary.
Shortly after Trocheck was placed on LTIR, the Rangers began to struggle from an offensive standpoint. The Blueshirts had failed to score in two consecutive home games with Trocheck out of the lineup, and the newly established top-six bore the brunt of the criticism.
In the middle of a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 16, Sullivan decided to shake up his top-six, swapping Cuylle to play alongside Zibanejad and Panarin, and Lafrenière to play with Miller and Sheary.
This move was with the hopes of adding a spark to the top-six. Now, with one full game in the books with these newly established lines, it’s clear that Sullivan had the right intentions by making this change.
Lafrenière adds more offensive fire-power to a line that has been mostly used in a defensive-shutdown role, but was lacking a dynamic playmaker.
Meanwhile, Cuylle gives Zibanejad and Panarin an element of physicality and a gritty style of play.
It’s just a more balanced approach that Sullivan has come up with, needed in times without Trocheck.
“They bring different attributes,” Sullivan said. “Will is a guy who is big and strong, and brings a certain power to that line with his netfront, his ability to hunt pucks and battle in the corners, his tight area skill plays is strong because of his size and his physical stature, so he brings that element to that line. Laf brings a playmaking ability and just raw skill to the line that we switched him on.
Carson Soucy Reflects On Scary Injury As He Inches Toward Return To Lineup
It appears as if Carson Soucy will likely make his return to the New York Rangers’ lineup on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild after a short stint on injured reserve.
“We felt at the time that maybe if we made a tweak to the top-six, that we could affect some positive change, and so that's what we try to do. It's not that anyone's better than the other, it's just they're different. We've liked what we've seen from the trios, so to speak, since we put them together.”
The Rangers scored four goals in their game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, so it appears as if the Rangers are trending in the right direction offensively.
Sullivan is expected to stick with these lines on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild.