After some questions based on travel issues when the New
York Rangers take the ice tonight newly acquired Wojtek Wolski will be in the
lineup, wearing number 86, and he will start with Artem Anisimov and Marian Gaborik
on one of the top two lines. Some are
surprised that Wolski is going to immediately go there because he literally
just got here and the way that Sean Avery had played on that line the last few
games, but I have none of that surprise as Wolski is a skill guy and you might
as well see what he has right away. It
is bad news for Avery both on the ice tonight and in the larger picture because
it is a statement however fair or unfair to view it that way on the faith the
team has in him to play consistent hockey at a high level worthy of that spot
in the lineup.
Full lineup is:
Dubinsky – Stepan – Zuccarello
Wolski – Anisimov – Gaborik
Fedotenko – Boyle – Prust
Avery – Drury – Weise
Staal – Girardi
Eminger – Sauer
McDonagh – Gilroy
With Wolski in the lineup it also means that recent call up
Kris Newbury is getting scratched and has been reported by all the writers
Torts phrased it as “he got screwed.”
Other notes of interest from the pregame were Torts praising
his current group of defense but also would not mind adding a veteran presence
to the team. The debate over getting
a veteran of sticking with what they have is going to be one that sticks
around for as long as it is until they make a move in all likelihood.
On Wolski Torts made calls around the league and talked to
coaches about him but wants to see him with his own eyes. That makes me chuckle the same way the talk
of calling McDonagh up just to watch him practice did because that is what you
have scouting departments for. It might
not be fair but it strikes me as an ego thing that Torts comes off as only his
eyes can determine what a player has or does not have.
