The Rangers’ recall Friday of center Jonny Brodzinski indicates Filip Chytil, who sustained an upper-body injury in Thursday night’s win over the Hurricanes, is likely to be unavailable when the team faces the Wild on Saturday in Minnesota.
There was no parallel move for Adam Fox, who exited the game with a lower-body injury, because the Rangers’ defensive reinforcement is already with the team in Zac Jones.
The status of both players is unknown, but the third period Thursday gave some insight into what they could look like without Fox and Chytil.
Without Chytil, Vincent Trocheck was bumped up to center the second line between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere. Barclay Goodrow was elevated from the fourth line and placed in the middle of Will Cuylle and Blake Wheeler on the third unit.
The expectation is Brodzinski — or maybe Tyler Pitlick — would slot onto the wing of the fourth line next to Nick Bonino and Jimmy Vesey.
Brodzinski gives the Rangers some more flexibility as a player who can play both center and wing.
The Rangers’ defensive pairs have been the same in all but one of the club’s first 10 games.
When Ryan Lindgren was sidelined in the second matchup of the season with Columbus, K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba remained together while Erik Gustafsson slotted next to Fox and Jones skated next to Braden Schneider.
The Jones-Schneider pairing had a particularly difficult night, on the ice for two of Boone Jenner’s three goals. That makes a reunion very unlikely.
The Rangers could tell Jones to do his best Fox impression and just line up the 23-year-old blueliner next to Lindgren and keep the continuity of the rest of the pairs. It’s also possible head coach Peter Laviolette could want to see something different.
When Fox exited Thursday’s game, Gustafsson replaced the 2021 Norris Trophy winner on the Rangers’ top power-play unit.
Based on the way Laviolette talked about Gustafsson filling in for Fox, it’s safe to assume he will continue to do so if Fox is sidelined.
“Gustafsson has been a first-unit power-play guy for most of his career,” Laviolette said. “So obviously there’s going to be a little transition there I think because of the [change in] hands. But if we need him to, Gus will be more than capable of jumping in.”
If Gustafsson moves off the second power-play unit to fill in for Fox, Jones should get the first crack at quarterbacking PP2.
The power play is a signature part of Jones’ game, and the Rangers presumably would want to see what he can do with the opportunity.
The 10-game point streak that Artemi Panarin will carry into Saturday’s game is tied for the third-longest by a Rangers player to begin a season and the longest since Darren Turcotte posted an 11-game tear in 1990.
Panarin is just the sixth player in franchise history with at least three double-digit point streaks, joining Rod Gilbert, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Rogers and Jean Ratelle.