Revelations, benchings and surprises: Behind this Rangers experiment

Probably the most interesting fact about these Rangers, just germinating under first-year head coach David Quinn, is that you never quite know what to expect.

They have now dropped to 1-4-0 after a low-energy, no-pace 2-1 loss to Connor McDavid on Saturday afternoon at the Garden, with Edmonton’s perennial Hart Trophy contender proving to be enough to carry his Oilers to their first victory of the season. The Blueshirts then had Sunday off before getting back to work in preparation for this week’s back-to-back, with the Avalanche in town Tuesday night followed the next evening by a trip to Washington to get a first look at the Stanley Cup banner hanging above the Capitals’ home ice.

Thus far, watching Quinn work has been like watching the inner workings of someone trying to figure out a math problem. Over to the side, there are small tangents of scratches (literally). There is also a solution he knows he wants to get to but has to reverse engineer his way to figuring out how.

And at the very least, he is honest in the assessments of his own work — explaining benchings and ice-time decisions with openness and candor.

Like when he sat Kevin Shattenkirk for a game, quickly explaining it was a process to come back from offseason knee surgery and Shattenkirk would be back in the following match. Also like when Quinn explained the two-game benching (for now) of Neal Pionk, the promising 23-year-old defenseman Quinn later said “is going to play a lot of hockey for us.” Or like when he heard Filip Chytil’s name after the game Saturday and immediately said he needs to get the superbly talented 19-year-old more ice time, even if it means moving him out of his natural center position and to the wing.

It is all experimentation now for Quinn as he tries to figure out this team and figure out this league. He is using all of his possible resources to learn more, too, with each practice and game having a bit of an unpredictable nature.

At Friday’s practice, after he had scratched Shattenkirk for the first win of his NHL head-coaching career, a 3-2 overtime victory against the Sharks on Thursday night, he paired the veteran defenseman with Brady Skjei. He then made Skjei’s partner for the first four games of the season, Adam McQuaid, skate with presumptive (and eventual) scratch Tony DeAngelo.

But come game time Saturday, Skjei and McQuaid were back together while Shattenkirk went with Fredrik Claesson. Guess he just wanted to get a look for himself at Skjei-Shattenkirk — together for much of last season before Shattenkirk’s injury shelved him following Jan. 18 surgery.

Quinn probably then spent a good part of his football Sunday thinking about what he is going to do for Monday’s practice in terms of trying to get Chytil more ice time. The No. 21-overall pick in 2017 had another good training camp, but once the games started for real, he was passed on the depth chart by 20-year-old pivot Brett Howden.

Howden has been a revelation, and Quinn, along with general manager Jeff Gorton, proved prescient in the decision to keep Howden on the team rather than No. 7-overall pick Lias Andersson, who again is plying his trade at AHL Hartford. Maybe the landing spot for Chytil is on Howden’s left wing, with Mats Zuccarello on the right. That would bump the struggling Pavel Buchnevich down and likely put Vlad Namestnikov into the middle.

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Quinn’s attempt to move Buchnevich to the left did not work — with what seemed like little interest in the move from the 23-year-old Russian, who is a lefty shot but has never played anything but right wing. That inability to adjust might now earn Buchnevich less ice time, just as he sat for the final 8:35 of the third period against the Oilers, when the Rangers were down a goal and could have used his offensive talent.

But the coach has been steadfast in his principles, chief among them that effort is “non-negotiable.” He said he hopes that will carry this team forward in the rebuilding process and carry him forward in understanding what he currently has and what might work best to compete in games on a daily basis.

But as of now, it’s still a learning process — for Quinn, and for everyone watching.