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STOCKHOLM — The Rangers face the prospect of playing perhaps the first month of the NHL season without Marc Staal, general manager Glen Sather told The Post yesterday as his team skated here in full prep mode for tomorrow’s season opener against the Kings at the Globe Arena.
“Doctors said that it could be a week, but it could also be a month,” Sather said of his matchup, shutdown defenseman who has entered a new phase of treatment back home. “I wish we had something absolute but we don’t.
“If Marc’s out for a substantial length of time, it’s going to have an impact on our club, no doubt about that. He’s our top defenseman, one of our top players, gets the most ice time and is always on against the other team’s top players.
“But it’s something we’ll just have to deal with.”
For the moment, the Rangers are dealing with Staal’s absence by recalling Tim Erixon from the AHL Whale to skate on the third pair with Steve Eminger while Ryan McDonagh moves up a notch to the first pair with Dan Girardi. Michael Sauer is joined by Michael Del Zotto on the second pair.
From a broader perspective, the continued uncertainty relating to Staal’s ability to play has prompted the Rangers to express increased interest in 32-year-old free-agent defenseman Paul Mara, who previously played for the the team from late 2006-07 through 2008-09.
If a contract agreement is reached, the idea would be for Mara to join the club in New York on Monday for a full week of practice before next Saturday night’s game against the Islanders at the Coliseum.
The Post has learned that Staal, who will start the season on injured reserve, has received essentially the same treatment from the physicians at the University of Buffalo Sports Medicine Institute who successfully treated post-concussion headaches that had afflicted the Sabres’ Tim Connolly and Patrick Kaleta.
Staal received a cortisone injection in the neck on Sept. 26, the day the Rangers left North America for their preseason European tour.
Connolly, who missed nearly all of the 2006-07 season with post-concussion symptoms after missing the entire 2003-04 season for the same reason, has credited his treatment at the Sports Medicine Institute for his recovery.
In addition, Staal next week will undergo more frequent acupuncture treatments. He has not been on the ice since he experienced headaches after skating with the AHL Whale last weekend.
Coach John Tortorella said he decided against keeping the successful McDonagh-Sauer partnership intact and using that combination as the club’s matchup pair because he does not want to have Girardi on the bench while the opposition’s top line is on the ice.
“I don’t like breaking them up but I need to have Danny out there,” Tortorella said.
In this case, injury is forcing Tortorella to shuffle. Up front, though, Wojtek Wolski’s inability to mesh with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik and failure to nail down the left-wing spot on the first line is forcing the coach to break up the Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Marian Gaborik unit in order to move Dubinsky up to the top unit, at least to start tomorrow night.
“I know I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Tortorella said. “It’s something I’m still trying to settle in my mind, because I really believe in balance, and if someone other than Dubi could step up in that role, I’d move him back with Artie and Cally because I know that line works and has chemistry.”