The New York Rangers announced on Friday that rookie defenseman Victor Mancini has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League. In addition, the Rangers assigned forward Jake Leschyshyn to Hartford.
This one is a bit of a head scratcher, for now at least. With Mancini called up, the Rangers have eight defenseman on their roster. If someone was injured in the 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday, they have Chad Ruhwedel ready to step into the lineup. So, why fly Mancini all the way out to Edmonton for the last game of their road trip Saturday against the Oilers, only to immediately fly back home to New York for a game against the St. Louis Blues on Monday?
Well, there are a few scenarios that would make sense. There could be multiple Rangers defenseman who will need to miss time. It could be injuries, or there could be a sickness going around the team. Though it did not appear as any Ranger defenseman were injured in Thursday night’s contest.
Until we hear further word from Peter Laviolette, there’s no definitive explanation for the call up. Perhaps he hasn’t been happy with how his defensemen are playing and simply wants to give Mancini another look and/or prefers the rookie that much over the veteran Ruhwedel.
The Rangers did allow a season-high 49 shots and were once again heavily outplayed against the Flames. With an expected goals against of 5.97, they once again were bailed out by Igor Shesterkin, who was sensational making 46 saves, though not enough for a win.
Victor Mancini earns another crack at NHL with recent call up
Mancini played nine NHL games before being sent down to Hartford, and played pretty well. He had one goal and three assists as well as a plus-three rating, averaging 15:21 TOI per game. While that doesn’t sound all too bad, a deeper dive into his numbers show why he was likely sent down, on top of the fact that he had been sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch for too long and needed to play.
In all situations, Mancini was on the ice for 49 scoring chances for, 97 against, as well as three high-danger chances for, six against, per Natural Stat Trick. He was out-shot 51-97, but still managed a plus-three rating, despite poor analytics.
Mancini scored a goal in his first AHL game after being sent down. He played three games with the Wolf Pack, scoring that one goal and playing top-pair minutes. Hartford was a perfect 3-0-0 in those games, winning twice against the Charlotte Checkers, and once against the Providence Bruins.
The 22-year-old likely wasn’t recalled and traveling five hours on a plane flight to be a healthy scratch. So, who comes out of the lineup? Laviolette has been very satisfied with the play of Zac Jones, so while he and Mancini rotated in and out of the lineup early on, it doesn’t make sense for Jones to be the one to sit.
After giving up 20 shots in the first period alone against Calgary, a case can be made for most of the defenseman to be woken up with a game in the press box, but who comes out remains a mystery.
The likely scenario is that someone is sick or injured. Less likely but very possible is that Laviolette is going to send a wake-up call to one or two of the top-six defenseman, especially after poor showing Thursday. Even less likely than that is perhaps a pending trade from general manager Chris Drury.
The Rangers do not practice Friday, so we’ll have to wait until Saturday for an explanation prior to New York’s game against Connor McDavid and the Oilers.
As for Leschyshyn, he was a healthy scratch in three straight games after being recalled to take the injured Filip Chytil’s spot on the roster. Chytil rejoined the Rangers in Calgary and could play against the Oilers. In his absence, Jonny Brodzinski drew into the Rangers lineup
