tanner glass

He’s comin for ya, (Photo by Jenn Pierce/NHLI via Getty Images)

Over the weekend, Rangers Twitter was ablaze with fury as Alain Vigneault dressed Tanner Glass over Jesper Fast. “Why take out a kid who has proved he belongs for a veteran who shouldn’t be in the lineup?” everyone said. “We all knew Glass wouldn’t stay in the press box much longer,” said others. This was compounded when AV stated that he liked Glass on the fourth line, and would not change his forwards.

But then came the bomb: Dan Boyle will be sitting for Dylan McIlrath. Boyle –who hasn’t been as advertised since signing last summer– is “struggling” according to a few. To others, including myself, he’s unspectacular, but efficient. Any rage that wasn’t spent on Glass was now shifted at AV, not for dressing McIlrath, but for scratching Boyle. For some reason, people thought it would be Dan Girardi (yea, right) or Kevin Klein (not after his start).

Now everyone repeat after me.

October. Lineups. Do. Not. Matter.

Let that one sink in for a second. Here’s last year’s opening night roster.

2014 opening night

By my count, it includes three players who would be traded by year’s end. But let’s also remember other Rangers that played games in October/November: Ryan Malone, Chris Mueller, Mike Kostka, and Conor Allen. The Rangers went to the Eastern Conference Final last year.

The year before, the Rangers went 1-3 to start the season, including two losses by a combined score of 15-2. That club went to the Stanley Cup Final last year.

Here’s the dirty little secret: October. Lineups. Do. Not Matter.

Ok, maybe I’m being overly simplistic here. They do matter. But AV plays with his lineups. He likes to know what he can do with his current group. Can Tanner Glass contribute? Will Dylan McIlrath be able to supplant someone in the lineup? Why does my iPhone always freeze when updating iOS?

Vent away. Let that frustration out. But I can assure you that the lineup we saw on Saturday night and will see tonight will not be the regularly occurring lineup we see in December and January.

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