The New York Rangers have been playing without one top-four
defenseman all season as Marc Staal has been out of the lineup while trying to
recover from a concussion. The defense
has held up better than most could have hoped, and while much of the credit has
gone to Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh for elevating their games to another
level, the contributions of Sauer on defense should not be overlooked. It is because of those contributions that
additional impact of Sauer’s absence, due to the concussion he sustained Monday
night, that the Rangers depth on defense is going to be tested to a whole other
level.
The initial reports on Sauer have him listed as day-to-day,
but as we have seen with Staal’s own recovery there is no way to fully know how
short or long of an absence Sauer could have.
The lessons learned from Staal coming back quickly last season only to
have him struggle with post-concussion issues this year could also have the
Rangers exercise extra caution in when to bring back the 24-year-old shutdown
defender.
Michael Del Zotto and Steve Eminger are the two most
directly impacted by the absence of Sauer from the lineup. Del Zotto loses his rock solid defense
partner and is asked to be even more aware of mistakes he would make in his own
end. This is a test of where Del Zotto
is in his development as he has had moments this season that show he is back on
track while some of his play recently suggests he is still struggling mightily
in his own end. He will have to be
cleaner without Sauer back there to help clean up for defensive lapses.
Eminger is elevated from the third pair where he has been
averaging 13:10 of ice time per game to a role where he will likely see upwards
of 20 minutes a night. Eminger played
very well when forced into a top-four role early last season as the Rangers
were dealing with an injury to Michal Rozsival.
His familiarity with Del Zotto and history in the role certainly should
help Eminger, even if he is no Sauer back there.
Also impacted is Anton Stralman. Stralman will get another chance in the
Rangers’ lineup after only getting a single game against Florida on Nov. 23 to
show what he can do. Stralman likely
will see limited minutes at even strength, but he could gain the opportunity on
the power play to leave an impression with the coaching staff.
The Rangers defense has managed to survive the absence of
Marc Staal all season because individuals have answered the bell to raise their
levels. In the absence of Sauer as well
the level will have to go up once again because while the name is not as large
as Staal, the impact to the Rangers defense corps is significant.
