The one certainty about Rangers’ Lias Andersson plan
The Rangers believe Lias Andersson, in terms of his development, is best served staying in the NHL. That includes the possibility of the precocious 20-year-old forward being a healthy scratch for a few games, which could start with Friday night’s Garden match against the Coyotes.
Andersson skated as an extra forward at Thursday’s practice after he had played in all 16 of the Blueshirts’ games since they called him up from AHL Hartford on Nov. 5. He has averaged 10:54 of ice time per game, putting up one goal and three points.
When playing with the Wolf Pack, the No. 7-overall pick in the 2017 draft was getting upwards of 16 minutes per game (the AHL doesn’t publish ice-time totals) while getting work on both special teams.
“Right now, he’s staying here and we’re going to work on getting better daily, whether that’s 10-12 minutes in a game, or 18 minutes in a game, or he sits three in a row and practices hard and does extra stuff,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “That’s something as an organization we’ll determine as we continue to move forward.”
Quinn has tried Andersson both as a winger and a center, up and down the lineup. His game has been reliable, if unspectacular, but he hasn’t been able to find a solid role just yet. With the return of forwards Mats Zuccarello and Pavel Buchnevich from injury, Andersson could be best suited back in the minors.
see also
Rangers getting two key pieces back after quirky break
The NHL season is often considered a grind, and yet…
“As I’ve said before, a lot of that is so circumstantial and so individualistic. Each guy has different needs,” Quinn said. “Some guys will benefit from staying here, even if they’re not playing a ton of minutes, but it will help with their development and help with making them the player we think they’re capable of being. … Some guys need to go down and play 20 minutes a night, 18 minutes a night as a forward. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
Quinn spent a lot of time during practice working with two new power-play units, incorporating Zuccarello and Buchnevich.
The man-advantage is 1-for-15 over the past eight games and was ranked 19th in the league at an 18.4 percent success rate.
“One of the things we have to do a better job of is moving the puck when we’re trying to figure out what to do with it,” Quinn said. “We need to manipulate the penalty kill more often than we do.”
Defenseman Adam McQuaid was a full participant in practice for the second straight day, but it seems he’s not ready to return from his lower-body injury, which has kept him out since Oct. 25.
Quinn had Brendan Smith practicing in place of the recently injured Kevin Shattenkirk, on the right side of a duo with Freddy Claesson. Smith had been a healthy scratch for the recent two-game trip through Florida.
Due to impending inclement weather, the team canceled an outdoor practice that had been scheduled for Saturday at Lasker Rink in Central Park.