Gerard Gallant has full, healthy Rangers lineup for first time in a month
Rangers left wing Dryden Hunt and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse fight for position during the first period at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Jan. 3. Credit: Brad Penner
For the first time in a month, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had a full, and fully healthy roster from which to choose his lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden.
"Our team's available,’’ Gallant said before the game.
The return of Dryden Hunt from injured reserve, and Barclay Goodrow and Alexis Lafreniere from COVID-19 protocol, prompted the Rangers to move forward Morgan Barron from the active roster to the taxi squad, as the Rangers got back to their 23-man roster.
It was the first time the Rangers have had their full roster (other than forward Sammy Blais, who is out for the season with a torn ACL) since Dec. 15, when they beat the Arizona Coyotes, 3-2.
Gallant reiterated how happy he was with the performance the players from Hartford who had been called up over the past two weeks – Barron, fellow forwards Jonny Brodzinski, Tim Gettinger and Anthony Greco – had given while with the Rangers.
"They worked hard, they did their jobs real good, and I was really excited with them,’’ the coach said. "So now we get a full lineup and let's get back to, ‘This is our team,’ and play real good and play hard.’’
Gallant stopped short of saying that any of the callups who played so well might provide competition for players on the current roster to hold on to their place.
"That's not how you run your hockey team,’’ he said. "We’ve got our hockey team, and we've done pretty well all year with that hockey team. Now what those (callup) guys did, they opened up our eyes (because) they come up here and played real well. So, injuries happen, things happen. (If they) come up there, you feel confident with them.’’
Blue notes
In memory of Teddy Balkind, the Connecticut high school hockey player who died in a game two weeks ago, the Rangers had his jersey hanging on the glass behind their bench during warmups. They also wore his No. 5 jersey with his last name during warmups … With the full roster available, Ds Jarred Tinordi and Libor Hajek and F Dryden Hunt were healthy scratches.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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