Expect the Rangers bottom six to rotate for a while

A quick tip to save yourself some stress: Expect the Rangers bottom six to rotate for a while. It’s been a rotation for the first two weeks of the season after all. Mostly due to injuries, we’ve seen nine players rotate through the bottom six in just five games. Sammy Blais started the season hurt followed by Vitali Kravtsov getting hurt after two shifts, leading to Gerard Gallant shuffling his lines, Line shuffling is expected, and even fully healthy, we should expect the Rangers bottom six to rotate for a while.

Expecting the Rangers bottom six to rotate was……expected

Apologies for using the same word twice in a sentence, but expecting the Rangers bottom six to rotate was expected. No team knows their lines from puck drop on Day One, and the Rangers had some pretty decent roster turnover from last year. Vincent Trocheck has fit in nicely at 2C, and it appears that Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere have solidified spots in the top six, eliminating some of the rotation when healthy.

Vitali Kravtsov appears to be a part time lock for the third line, if that makes sense. An after thought before the draft, Kravtsov is now hopefully an integral part of a scoring third line. That said, while the Rangers bottom six rotates, Kravtsov will likely spend time in the press box, most likely as a 60 game player this year. While it may rub a bunch of people the wrong way, there is value in seeing a game from up top every now and then. He’d still be playing in 75% of the Rangers games.

Sammy Blais vs. Barclay Goodrow vs. Jimmy Vesey

The “real” open spot on the third line is in the other winger. Barclay Goodrow is playing there now, and Sammy Blais and Jimmy Vesey have been there as well. While Goodrow and Vesey might be best served as shutdown players, something Blais is not, there is still a question about whether or not Blais is a viable third liner. In the event he is, then Blais-Chytil-Kravtsov might be what Gallant settles on.

But in the very realistic scenario that Blais is not a third liner, then the Rangers will have a decision between Vesey and Goodrow for the third line. Given what we know about the Rangers keeping Vesey over Dryden Hunt, the Rangers view Vesey as a backup third line option. Whether you agree or not, Vesey is viewed as having more offensive punch, thus the decision to waive Hunt. Vesey’s scratching is less of a performance issue and more of a numbers game as the Rangers bottom six continues to rotate.

The ideal scenario for the Rangers, and one they will likely get to by Christmas, is a third line of Blais/Vesey-Chytil-Kravtsov, and a fourth line of Goodrow-Carpenter-Blais/Vesey/Reaves. Eventually, Ryan Reaves will be a part time player. He’s great in the locker room and we love him, but on the ice he’s a net negative. Expect him to be a matchup based player by the end of the calendar year.

For now, as long as we expect the Rangers bottom six to rotate, we will likely save ourselves some stress. Nothing is ever set in October or even November.