Vincent Trocheck is expected to miss some time for the New York Rangers.
After suffering an upper-body injury during the Rangers’ Thursday night game against the Buffalo Sabres, Trocheck is now being listed as week-to-week.
“He’s a tough guy to replace,” Mike Sullivan said of Trocheck. “He’s an extremely talented guy, plays in a lot of key situations for us, one of our best center-ice men, in the faceoff circle, obviously plays in every situation, power play, the penalty kill, part of our top six.
“Those guys aren’t easy to replace, but it’s going to provide opportunities for others to step up and we’ll see. We have what it takes to create some balance and we are going to do the best we can until we get Trocheck back.”
With Trocheck out of the lineup, Sullivan has decided to split up Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller.
Zibanejad will move from the wing to center, as he’ll play on a line alongside Artemi Panarin and
Alexis Lafrenière.
Despite having a good rapport with one another, Sullivan felt it was the best decision in this circumstance to split up Zibanejad and Miller.
“Because I think we need balance,” Sullivan said about why he split up Zibanejad and Miller. “I think we need balance, and we need to give some of our other offensive people a center-icemen that could think the game at their level and give them an opportunity to set them up for success.
“I feel like when we have J.T. and Mika in our top two center positions, and now we surround them with some of the people that we have that we think are gifted offensively, those two guys can think the game along those terms. I just think the balance part of it is an important element. When Trocheck was out of the lineup, we felt it was a necessary choice to put Mika back in the middle.”
Juuso Parssinen also gets a chance to slide into the lineup and prove himself. He’ll play on the wing instead of in his usual center position.
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Over the Rangers’ first two games, Parssinen served as a healthy scratch, so he’s looking forward to getting back on the ice in game action.
“Excited. A lot of energy. First game of the season for myself, so that's always fun,” said Parssinen. “I’m trying to bring my game and help the guys get the win.”
The Rangers are set to play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. EST, marking their first full game without Trocheck.