After Victor Mancini played in the first nine out of 10 games for the New York Rangers, there has all of a sudden been a shift in his usage. Zac Jones played over Mancini both against the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres. Stan Fischler talks about Matt Rempe. Now, Jones will be in the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night while Mancini is set to be a healthy scratch once again. It seems Jones is starting to gain the trust of Peter Laviolette a little bit more as he is even serving on the second unit of the power play. What exactly is happening with Mancini though? Laviolette does not want everyone pushing the panic button because of Mancini’s recent lack of playing time. “You're talking about a couple games here, but he's played quite a bit,” Laviolette said via Colin Stephenson of Newsday. [https://x.com/ColinSNewsday/status/1855322249579901431] “He practices every day. He gets to work on things that can improve his game. Practices at an NHL pace and tries to keep himself ready.” Prior to this recent stint, Mancini was playing over Jones most of the time, so this could just be a way of Laviolette feeling out both defensemen in order to see which one is a better fit long term.
