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SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The NHL’s trade deadline is less than two weeks away and the Rangers are bracing themselves for unfamiliar territory as a team that is sure to be active.
For the first time in a while, the Rangers are sitting comfortably in playoff position as the March 21 cutoff steadily approaches. President and general manager Chris Drury has no doubt been working the phones and the Rangers are expected to have some new additions heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
No matter how many years a player has been in the NHL, the weeks leading up to the trade deadline never seem to get easier.
“I think it’s been different situations every year really,” Mika Zibanejad said before the Rangers lost 5-2 to the Wild on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center. “If you’re not in a playoff spot or like this year we’re in a playoff spot, it’s different chatters than it was last year and the year before. I think it’s part of it, I’ve been through a lot of them.
“It’s obviously interesting, but it’s nothing that you focus on too much. You’ve still got to take care of business and take care of yourself and every guy in that locker room. We’ll see what happens.”
The Rangers have been aiming to acquire a middle-to-top-six forward, as well as another defenseman as they gear up for what could be their first legitimate playoff berth since the 2016-17 season. To make one or both of those moves, the Rangers will certainly have to part with some top-tier prospects or a bubble player or two who may or may not have been with the team for parts of this season.
It’s something that’s unavoidably on everyone’s minds, but the Rangers are in an ideal position compared to years past.
“Definitely you’re always thinking about it,” head coach Gerard Gallant said of the trade deadline. “Especially, you know, every player loves his teammates and loves his group and sometimes you get traded and even if you don’t get traded, you’re still thinking about it right up to the deadline. So you’re concerned about it. It’s part of our game and it’s a tough part of our game.”
Julien Gauthier drew back into the lineup Tuesday after he was a healthy scratch against the Jets, slotting into the right wing of the third line next to Barclay Goodrow and Filip Chytil. Tim Gettinger and Jonny Brodzinski remained in the lineup, this time on the fourth line alongside Ryan Reaves.
With the game steadily unraveling, however, Gallant had Reaves take some reps on the top line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. That moved Alexis Lafreniere down to the third unit, while Gauthier dropped to the fourth line.
“They were playing the matchup game with their big guys,” Gallant said of moving Reaves to the top line. “I wanted Reavo to be on that side. Laffy did nothing wrong, Laffy has been great and I told him that. It was just sort of the matchup for tonight and things will be back to normal.”
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