Hartnett: Stepan Injury Forces Examination Of Rangers' Questionable Center Depth
By Sean Hartnett
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The Rangers' center depth suffered a major blow on Wednesday morning when top-line center Derek Stepan suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula. Stepan fell to the ice during non-contact on-ice drills. He was helped off the ice by teammates.
Later in the afternoon, the team announced that Stepan will miss four-to-six weeks. The injury further compounds the Blueshirts' already questionable situation at center.
The Rangers lost a ton of experience at the position during the offseason. General manager Glen Sather opted to buy out veteran playmaker Brad Richards, and penalty-killing ace Brian Boyle joined the Tampa Bay Lightning on a three-year deal.
Now, the Rangers will be without a key point producer for all of October. Stepan established career highs in points (57) and assists (40).
FIERCE COMPETITION WILL UNFOLD BETWEEN MILLER, HAYES, LINDBERG, MUELLER AND LOMBARDI
Derick Brassard and Dominic Moore return as regulars from last season's Eastern Conference championship roster. Youngsters J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes and Oscar Lindberg and veterans Chris Mueller and Matthew Lombardi will compete to fill the Rangers' remaining two center spots.
Miller arrived at camp in excellent shape after receiving strong criticisms from head coach Alain Vigneault last season. He has made a positive impression during training camp and registered two assists in Monday's 5-4 preseason defeat to the Devils at Madison Square Garden.
The 21-year-old center admitted prior to training camp that he must improve his on-ice awareness and become a better all-around center. Miller struggled to grasp defensive zone coverage during 30 regular-season games with the Rangers last season.
"I've got to be more rounded," Miller said on September 10. "I think offense comes more natural. I need to be smart all over the ice."
Hayes centered Chris Kreider and Danny Kristo during Monday's preseason exhibition. The 22-year-old has an NHL-ready body. Hayes owns an impressive combination of natural skill and power-forward tendencies. He is listed on the Rangers' website at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds. Should Hayes lose out in the competition at center, he also stands a solid chance of making the Rangers' opening-night lineup as a winger.
Kreider helped convince Hayes to join the Rangers over a number of free-agent suitors. Hayes feels his style meshes well with Vigneault's uptempo, offensive-leaning system.
"Talking to guys like Kreider, it's a great opportunity with the guys they have here," Hayes said during training camp. "I really like the style coach (Alain Vigneault) plays. So, I figured this would be the best opportunity for me."
Lindberg recently spoke about his desire to impress Vigneault and the coaching staff. The 22-year-old Swede has been working to develop his two-way game and was trusted to perform a penalty-killing role in minor-league Hartford last season.
"It's a tough competition," Lindberg said last Thursday. "You just try to play your best and try to show what you're good at. Last year, I started playing on the PK. I hadn't played there much before. Face-offs are something I've been working on all my career. I feel more comfortable knowing the system a little bit."
Lombardi hasn't played an NHL game since April 2013 when he was a member of the Anaheim Ducks. The 32-year-old center spent last season playing for Geneve-Servette HC of the Swiss National A League. He struggled in the Rangers' preseason opener, but that is expected from a player reaccelerating himself to the faster pace of the NHL.
Mueller played nine games for the Dallas Stars last season and did not register a point. He was able to record an assist in Monday's preseason defeat. Mueller is somewhat of a dark-horse candidate. The fact that Mueller is a right-handed center also gives him a unique edge. Brassard, Moore, Hayes, Lindberg and Lombardi are all left-handed.
Vigneault mentioned that he discussed the possibility of moving St. Louis to center.
"The only name I threw out at my staff a few minutes ago was if Marty maybe played there in the past," Vigneault said. "The answer was nobody thought he had. I think we've got a good list of potential candidates. Now, I've just got to put them in situations and see how they respond to the opportunity."
Vigneault said that he expects to trim his roster down to about "six-forwards line or 10 defenseman" following next Tuesday's preseason exhibition game in Philadelphia.
STEPAN WILL MISS A MINIMUM OF NINE GAMES
In a best-case scenario, Stepan will miss nine regular-season games and all of October. A worst-case scenario would have Stepan missing 11 or 12 games and returning in early November.
It was an unusual, freak injury as Vigneault did not see any reason to hold Stepan out of Wednesday's on-ice testing after the X-rays did not reveal any abnormalities. The 24-year-old center had been cleared to resume practice activities after three separate rounds of X-rays all came back negative.
"Unfortunately Step got hurt," Vigneault said. "He was feeling real good the last 48 hours. He came in this morning. He had his third X-ray done. Everything looked normal and good to go. He stepped on the ice, unfortunately he got hurt."
Teammate Dan Girardi accidentally hit Stepan with a slap shot in his left leg during an informal practice on September 9. Stepan missed the previous two practices due to what the team described as a "foot contusion."
Stepan was previously a model of durability. The Minnesota native did not miss a single regular-season game during the first four years of his NHL career. His tough reputation was cemented after he only missed one game after suffering a broken jaw during the Eastern Conference Finals.
BIGGER ROLE COMING FOR DOMINIC MOORE?
Vigneault hinted that versatile center Dominic Moore might be in line for a larger role. Moore finished the playoffs centering Kreider and St. Louis during the final games of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
"Last year, Dom came back after not playing a full season," Vigneault said. "This year I know, having talked to him and having seen his test results, that he's in a different place both physically and mentally right now. Maybe he is ready to assume a bigger role with us. I know that's what he'd like, and I do know that when we needed him last year to pick up some ice time and pick up some important minutes, he did that for us. So it might be there again this year."
RANGERS TRIM ROSTER BY 20
The Rangers made 20 roster reassignments following Wednesday's AHL/rookie scrimmage against the Devils in Newark. Hayes and Nickolas Latta scored, but New York lost the scrimmage 5-2.
None of the moves came as a surprise.
The Rangers assigned the following 12 players to their Hartford training camp: Troy Donnay, Michael Kantor, Latta, Paxton Leroux, Chris McCarthy, Richard Nejezchleb, Logan Nelson, Josh Nicholls, Samuel Noreau, Mackenzie Skapski, Michael St. Croix and Andrew Yogan.
These six prospects will report to their respective junior teams: Ryan Graves, Brandon Halverson, Keegan Iverson, Ryan Mantha, Adam Tambellini and Daniel Walcott.
Forward Nathan Burns and defenseman Dallas Valentine have been released from their tryout agreements.
There are currently 43 players remaining on the Rangers' preseason roster:
Forwards (25): Chris Bourque, Ryan Bourque, Derick Brassard, Anthony Duclair, Jesper Fast, Tanner Glass, Carl Hagelin, Ryan Haggerty, Kevin Hayes, Marek Hrivik, Chris Kreider, Danny Kristo, Oscar Lindberg, Matthew Lombardi, Ryan Malone, J.T. Miller, Dominic Moore, Chris Mueller, Rick Nash, Ryan Potulny, Martin St. Louis, Lee Stempniak, Derek Stepan, Nick Tarnasky and Mats Zuccarello
Defensemen (14): Conor Allen, Mat Bodie, Dan Boyle, Dan Girardi, Tommy Hughes, Matt Hunwick, Steven Kampfer, Kevin Klein, Michael Kostka, Ryan McDonagh, Dylan McIlrath, John Moore, Marc Staal, Petr Zamorsky
Goaltenders (4): Cedrick Desjardins, Henrik Lundqvist, Jason Missiaen, Cam Talbot
Follow Sean on Twitter @HartnettHockey.
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