The Rangers have more players than most who are on pace to play in all 82 games this season.
Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller all played in their 77th contest on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against the Jets, a team that doesn’t have a single player who has appeared in every game. Many teams are like Winnipeg in this regard, but the Rangers have been fortunate to have half of their six alternate captains — as well as two of their top four defensemen — as constants in the lineup.
“It’s something you don’t talk about,” Trouba said with a laugh. “It’s a grind. It’s hard to do. I don’t think it’s something you really think a ton about, but man, it’s not an easy thing to do in this league.”
Considering it’s the first 82-game campaign since 2018-19, this season has been an adjustment not only for veterans but for the young players who have only known truncated schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rangers have seven players on the active roster who are participating in their first full-length NHL season, including those who have fluctuated between the American Hockey League and NHL.
With five games left in the regular season after Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the Jets, the Rangers have the option to manage workloads, as head coach Gerard Gallant did with Alexis Lafreniere last week in Philadelphia. It sounds like those types of decisions will be a collaborative effort among the players, medical staff and coaching staff.
Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad have all played in every game so far this season. USA TODAY Sports“I don’t see Chris Kreider wanting a rest,” Gallant said. “He’s that big horse of a guy that just keeps going and going. If you give Kreids a rest, he’ll want to come to the rink and work out twice that day.”
Morgan Barron returned to the Garden for the first time since the Rangers traded him to Winnipeg in the deal for Andrew Copp at last month’s trade deadline. The Rangers’ sixth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft has a goal and an assist in nine games with the Jets.
Skating on the left wing of the third line, Barron recorded two shots on goal and two hits in 11:55 of ice time.
The Rangers’ 48 percent faceoff win percentage this season is ranked 25th out of 32 NHL teams, with Zibanejad leading the team at 52.29 percent among players who have played in at least 50 games.
“For me, D-zone faceoffs are the biggest deal for me and we pay attention to that,” Gallant said. “But the neutral zone faceoffs and the O-zone faceoffs, as a coach, you don’t pay nearly as much attention to that. I don’t agree with the numbers every night when we see them. We got a coach upstairs that takes the numbers and I think we’re a better faceoff team than we’ve shown.”— even though it’s been a lot better than the first half of the year.
