Perhaps the reason for Victor Mancini’s recall from Hartford to make the trek across the continent to join the Rangers for Saturday’s match in Edmonton will become apparent at the morning skate.
That’s because the Blueshirts have been carrying Chad Ruhwedel as the team’s seventh defenseman since he changed places on Nov. 13 with Mancini, the 22-year-old freshman righty who had been a healthy scratch for the four games prior to that.
So either a top-six defenseman is being pulled for performance or health reasons and head coach Peter Laviolette does not feel comfortable inserting the 34-year-old veteran into the lineup, or the club might be down another regular defenseman, necessitating that both Mancini and Ruhwedel would dress.
The Blueshirts maintained their 23-man roster by dispatching Jake Leschyshyn to the Wolf Pack in exchange for Mancini, who had played three AHL: games (1-0-1) after skating in nine Rangers matches (1-3-4) out of the gate.
It is unknown whether Filip Chytil, who has missed the first three games of the trip after sustaining an upper-body injury at the Garden on Nov. 14, will dress after rejoining the club in Calgary.
