Rangers' Filip Chytil back on the ice at practice, Nick Bonino waived

GREENBURGH — A day that began with the reacclimation of one Ranger into the fold ended with the announcement that another is leaving.

Center Filip Chytil was back on the ice with his teammates on Thursday, but forward Nick Bonino was waived.

In between, there was the task of getting accustomed to new lineup configurations with two games left before a week-long break.

Nothing is as constant as change, as the Rangers proved before, during and after Thursday morning’s 50-minute practice at the MSG Training Center.

The first glimpse of Chytil skating with his teammates since he suffered a suspected concussion against Carolina on Nov. 2 was, by all accounts, an emotional boost for the Rangers, who lost three of four on their recent road trip.

“In terms of him getting back and coming back healthy, that’s the most important thing,” Mika Zibanejad said of Chytil, who wore a red non-contact jersey throughout the entirety of practice.

“Just a happy guy and fun to have him back in the locker room.”

Chytil will not play in Friday’s home game against defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas and likely won’t dress for Saturday’s game in Ottawa before the CBA-mandated bye week.

“Day one, so we’ll start the process of working up to speed,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “But it was good to have him out there. There’s no time frame.”

Even though Chytil hadn’t practiced with the team until Thursday, he had been skating on his own beginning in mid-November and received permission from the team to return to his native Czechia before New Year’s Eve to receive treatment. He returned to New York on Monday.

Chytil’s first practice with the team in more than two months coincided with the decision to break up the top defense pair of Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox. During practice, Fox was paired with Erik Gustafsson and Lindgren skated with Braden Schneider. The Jacob Trouba-K’Andre Miller shutdown duo stayed intact.

“The numbers for those pairs when they’ve been together have been pretty good,” Laviolette said of the reconfigured defense pairings. “Positive units. Not that they weren’t the other way. I still think they were positive.”

While both Chytil’s return and the lineup experimentation could be construed as optimistic and pragmatic, the announcement that general manager Chris Drury placed Bonino on waivers was personally difficult for Laviolette, who coached him for parts of three seasons in Nashville.

“He met with Chris Drury this morning,” Laviolette said of Bonino, 35, who had one goal and four assists in 45 games this season. “They had a meeting and that was the decision that was made.”

In his 15-year career, Bonino has played for the Rangers, Pittsburgh (he was an integral member of the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Stanley Cup-winning squads), San Jose, Minnesota, Vancouver, Anaheim and Nashville.

“I’ve worked with Nick for quite a few years going back to Nashville,” Laviolette said. “I can’t speak enough about him as a person.”