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Not much has been settled regarding the line combinations with which the Rangers will start the playoffs, and it won’t be anytime soon. Not until head coach Gerard Gallant and the hierarchy gets a long look at Kaapo Kakko upon the Finn’s anticipated return from the wrist injury/surgery that has sidelined him since Jan. 21.
But we’ve seen enough in the seven games since the trade deadline to suggest that the partnership between Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp will pretty much be etched in stone both until and after Ryan Strome returns from the lower body issue that has forced the center to miss the last four contests.
Copp has been centering Panarin on the left in Strome’s absence with Dryden Hunt, Jonny Brodzinski or Barclay Goodrow on the right. Hunt got the first three games before being a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Flyers. Brodzinksi, a nominal fourth-liner who’d been scratched the previous two matches, opened in that spot against Philly before Gallant replaced him with Goodrow at the start of the third period.
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