The Rangers nonetheless had a sport to play that night time when phrase acquired round Friday morning that captain Jacob Trouba was being held out of their matchup with the Penguins for the aim of “roster management.”
Anybody in any locker room is aware of {that a} proclamation like that often means it was mentioned participant’s final time in that locker room.
Chris Kreider, the Blueshirts’ longest-tenured participant, opted to maintain the main target solely on the sport at hand.
“Yeah, but not today,” Kreider mentioned when requested if he had something to say about Trouba’s state of affairs earlier than the Rangers’ eventual 4-2 win over the Penguins on the Backyard. “Today, we’ve got to focus on winning a hockey game.”
The Rangers have been fielding questions on exterior noise for the previous few weeks, however this was the primary vital transfer the group has made because the group stumbled via a 1-6 stretch.
Many Rangers echoed Kreider’s sentiment in their very own manner, noting that the group has to maintain issues which can be out of their management out of sight and out of thoughts with a view to strategy the subsequent sport as wanted.
Nonetheless, the human side of coming to phrases with the chance that Trouba, their teammate of 5 seasons and captain for 3, is transferring on, simply sneaks out.
“That’s a decision between the team and him, from what I’m understanding,” mentioned Mika Zibanejad, who added that he can’t say it hasn’t been powerful. “As a player, as a teammate, as a friend and human being, obviously we love him to death and what he’s done and what he does for us.”
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette spoke with Trouba, the Rangers management group and the group as a complete within the wake of Friday’s information.
The choice relating to Trouba, the veteran head coach mentioned, was one he made in collaboration with president and common supervisor Chris Drury.
It was not meant to be a message to the locker room, however Laviolette believes the group is conscious of the place they’re.
“I think everybody’s understanding of where we’ve been for the last month and how we’ve played,” he mentioned. “We can’t continue down that road or we’ll find ourselves out of the playoffs.”
Igor Shesterkin earned the beginning nod Friday night time in opposition to the Penguins, turning apart 20 of the 22 pictures he confronted.
Victor Mancini was again within the Rangers lineup for the primary time since Nov. 23, changing Trouba alongside Zac Jones.
On Thursday, assistant GM Ryan Martin knowledgeable Mancini he’d be coming again as much as play in his eleventh sport this season.
Mancini had been logging loads of minutes in Hartford, enjoying on its prime defensive pair and in all conditions.
“Just in the defensive zone, I feel like my play when I get my head up, vision is a big part of my game and making sure that I can make breakouts clean,” Mancini mentioned of what he targeted on with the Wolf Pack. “Get the puck on to gamers’ tape. We all know we will put it up the wall, proper? But when we will get out of the zone clear, it’s going to be quite a bit simpler. Simply ensuring I’m getting pucks to the web within the offensive zone.
“You don’t have to score from up there, but you can create a lot of second chances and create a lot of chaos.”
