The uncertain status of their best defenseman looms over the Rangers as they prepare to leave Monday night on a European road trip that includes four exhibition contests and the first two games of the regular season.
Marc Staal, the 24-year-old anchor of the club’s blue line, participated in an hour-long, non-contact practice on Sunday, but he will not travel with the team to Prague, where the Rangers play the first of four European preseason games on Thursday. Staal is still experiencing symptoms from a concussion sustained in a game in Carolina in February, when he absorbed a punishing hit from his brother Eric, a star forward with the Hurricanes.
Rangers Coach John Tortorella told reporters on Sunday that Staal was continuing a series of tests and treatments, including acupuncture. The club’s medical personnel should be able to provide an update on his condition by the end of the week. Tortorella would not rule out the possibility that Staal would meet the team in Europe and be in the opening day lineup. The Rangers play the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 7, and the Anaheim Ducks the following day. Both games are in Stockholm.
“We’re going to try and get him on the trip,” Tortorella said. “Once he feels better and we know he can get into all the stuff we need for him to be ready for the regular season, he’ll come out.”
While the Rangers wait for answers, the high hopes of the franchise and its fans for Stanley Cup contention are tempered, at least temporarily. New York added the first-line center Brad Richards as a free agent in July, addressing the roster’s primary need. The Rangers have a balanced attack at forward and an All-Star, Henrik Lundqvist, in goal. But without Staal, the team’s leader in ice time and a defender who plays in every crucial situation, the coaching staff will struggle to find effective matchups against Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and the other high-powered forwards of the Eastern Conference.
As coaches do, Tortorella tried to spin Staal’s absence as a chance for other defenders to showcase their ability. But Tortorella, who does not go about his profession with a lack of zeal, was a bit halfhearted in his pronouncement.
“Everybody bumps up,” he said. “Everybody gets more of an opportunity. I guess that’s the best way to put it.”
Tortorella may have no other choice. The roster includes a veteran shutdown defenseman in Dan Girardi and the emerging young talents Ryan McDonagh and Michael Sauer. All are capable of logging extensive minutes in a pinch. But over the six-month grind that is the N.H.L. regular season, no one on the Rangers’ roster can replace Staal if his absence is prolonged. In the salary cap era, there is also no way to replace a player of his caliber with a trade or free-agent signing.
“If we don’t have him,” the Rangers’ captain, Ryan Callahan, said of Staal, “there’s a huge hole.”
Expect the Rangers to continue to be cautious with Staal. He can always meet them further down the road.
TRENDING
Up: Mark Streit – On Saturday the Islanders defenseman reminded the league what his team missed last season when he was sidelined for all 82 games with a serious shoulder injury. In his first game in 17 months, a preseason contest against the Devils at Nassau Coliseum, Streit played 24 minutes and had a goal and two assists in a 6-2 Islanders victory.
Down: Sean Avery – The Rangers’ shift-disturbing wing has neither played nor misbehaved his way out of the lineup. Avery appears to trail Mats Zuccarello for the final forward position available and is joined in the battle for a job by the youngsters Dale Weise and Carl Hagelin and the veteran shootout specialist Erik Christensen. The Rangers possess more depth than they’ve had in years. Unless Avery shines in the team’s final five preseason games, starting Monday in Philadelphia, he could be placed on waivers and start the season with the minor league affiliate in Connecticut.
SHOW OF HANDS
The Devils are counting on 20-year-old center Jacob Josefson to be a playmaker on a line with Zach Parise or Ilya Kovalchuk this season. As Josefson, New Jersey’s 2009 first-round pick, demonstrated in this goal on Friday against the Rangers, assisted by Kovalchuk, the Swede can finish, too. His rapid release gave Rangers goaltender Martin Biron no time to react.
NOTES
In the league’s worst-kept secret since the Atlanta Thrashers’ springtime relocation to Winnipeg, the details for the 2012 N.H.L. Winter Classic will be announced on Monday in Philadelphia. The combatants, whose prize is four weeks of strong, uncensored exposure on the HBO documentary series “24/7,” are the Rangers and host Flyers. The outdoor game will be held on Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Over the last two weeks, the Islanders named Streit as captain and the Rangers selected Callahan. Next up are the Devils. Their choice is expected to be Parise, the gifted goal scorer and United States Olympian who could become a free agent at the end of this season.
After starting Rick DiPietro in Boston on Friday and Al Montoya at home on Saturday, Coach Jack Capuano figures to give Evgeni Nabokov his shot this week in the Islanders’ goalie competition. The team plays its final exhibition games on Tuesday in Calgary; Friday in New Jersey; and Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn. against the Bruins. Also, look for the team to sign 37-year-old defenseman Steve Staios, who has impressed management during his training camp tryout with gritty play and inspiring leadership.
Chris Botta will report all season on the Rangers, the Islanders and the Devils.
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