Rangers' Alexis Lafreniere demoted to fourth line in Gerard Gallant's latest shake-up

TAMPA, Fla. – Rangers coach Gerard Gallant has been poking fun of and sometimes even chastising himself in recent weeks about how often he changes his team’s forward line combinations. When the Blueshirts were struggling to find themselves before their recent seven-game win streak, he changed the lines frequently; then, even during the win streak, and the eight-wins-in-nine-games stretch before the Christmas break, he still tinkered with his combinations at times.

He blew up his lines again Tuesday, late in the second period of the Rangers’ no-show, 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals at the Garden. And then at Wednesday’s practice, before the team flew to Florida for its game Thursday against the Lightning, he tweaked them again, making news when he put forward Alexis Lafrenière, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, on the fourth line.

In speaking with reporters afterward, Gallant cautioned that, as often as he changes lines, it’s no sure thing that Lafrenière will be on the fourth line for Thursday’s game. He could change his mind before then, the coach said.

But he did say he wanted Lafrenière, who has five goals and 12 assists in 36 games, “to be better.’’

“Laffy’s got some chances to play with some good people, and he’s played well at times. But it’s inconsistency,’’ Gallant said. “So Laffy’s getting maybe knocked down today in practice. I’m not saying he’s going to be there tomorrow – I don’t know where he’s going to be tomorrow. But sometimes it’s a wakeup call for the kids. We’ll see.’’

If Gallant does put Lafrenière on the fourth line, it won’t be the first time. He did it in November of last season, his first as Rangers coach and Lafrenière’s second in the NHL. He even scratched the winger for a game in April.

In creating the new combinations Wednesday, Gallant reunited the top line he began the season with – center Mika Zibanejad between wingers Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko – and put left wing Artemi Panarin back together with center Vincent Trocheck on the second line, with Barclay Goodrow on their right side.

Gallant admitted that he has wanted to get Kreider and Zibanejad back together, and after splitting up Panarin and Trocheck because he said he didn’t think they were necessarily clicking, he wanted to give them another look together.

“When you sit down in the summertime and you (look at) your lineup, you’re saying, ‘We want this to work, we want this to work,’ ’’ the coach said. “That’s obviously a good pairing (Panarin and Trocheck) that we’d like to have going. I think Kreider plays with Mika really well; we’ve seen that for a number of years. And I want to get back to that.’’

The third and fourth lines looked different, too. Winger Julien Gauthier, who’d been playing on the fourth line, but who has had two straight strong games after being scratched for two games, skated on the third line, with Filip Chytil and Vitali Kravtsov. The fourth line had four players on it: Lafrenière, Jimmy Vesey, Jonny Brodzinski and Sammy Blais. 

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.