Rangers coach Gerard Gallant focused on his group, not trade possibilities

DETROIT — A week before the trade deadline, teams around the NHL are making moves. Bo Horvat to the Islanders. Vladimir Tarasenko to the Rangers. Ryan O’Reilly to the Maple Leafs.

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant sees what’s happening and hears what’s rumored to maybe be happening soon. But he has his own work to do, getting his team ready to play the next game on the schedule, and so he keeps his head down and does that.

“I just get ready for the games,’’ Gallant said Thursday morning before that night's 4-1 loss to the Red Wings. “But obviously, with all the talk and what's going on, you look around. And every day, there's trades coming up now. So it's an exciting time. I think we've done most of our work . . . but there's still a week left, or eight days left, before [the deadline], so who knows what's going to happen.’’

Rangers general manager Chris Drury acted early by obtaining sniper Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola from St. Louis two weeks ago, then addressed his team’s fourth line when he traded forward Julien Gauthier and a draft pick to Ottawa on Sunday to get Tyler Motte.

But as the Rangers took the ice for warmups Thursday, they announced that forwards Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn were unavailable to play because of “roster management,’’ which suggests the team anticipates the two players will be traded.

Drury still has a little bit of space under the salary cap to work with, and talk about finding a creative way to acquire Chicago winger Patrick Kane has not gone away despite the addition of Tarasenko. So it’s possible more big things could happen for the Blueshirts by the March 3 deadline.

If Drury does make another move, Gallant made it clear that it won’t be because he is in the GM’s ear every day pestering him to do more.

“Not one bit,’’ Gallant said. “No, I like our team. I like our group . . . We've been on a real good roll the last two months [22-5-4 since Dec. 5 entering Thursday night], and you're going to have some little kinks in the road [two straight losses entering Thursday]. But I'm happy with our group.’’

Monday's 4-1 loss to Winnipeg ended a 10-game point streak (8-0-2) for the Rangers, who were 33-15-9 entering Thursday’s game against the red-hot Red Wings (27-21-8 and 6-1 in their last seven games). The game was the first of three in four days for the Rangers, who will play at Washington on Saturday afternoon and host the Kings on Sunday.

Gallant is content to try to win games, pile up points and chase the two teams ahead of the Rangers in the Metropolitan Division, the first-place Hurricanes and second-place Devils. The way the NHL playoffs are structured, the second- and third-place teams in each division play each other in the first round, meaning if the season ended now, the third-place Rangers, who trailed the Devils by four points entering Thursday, would be facing their Hudson River rivals in the first round.

But Gallant said the Rangers aren’t trying to win just so they can pass the Devils and secure home-ice advantage in a first-round matchup. He said it’s important to win just for winning’s sake.

“I'm not worried one bit about home ice,’’ he said. “Not one bit. I'm worried about playing well, [and] getting as many points as we can. I'm not worried about how many games Jersey is going to win or Carolina's going to win. As we saw last year, home ice wasn't a big deal, you know? I mean, the Pittsburgh series [the Rangers lost two of four games at the Garden], the Carolina series, everybody won home ice until the last game.

“So I'm just worried about our team playing well. I don't worry about who's getting home ice and who's getting this extra game.’’

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.