NHL

Del Zotto’s reps want meeting with Rangers GM to talk trade

PITTSBURGH — Michael Del Zotto’s representatives hope to chat with Glen Sather in Toronto on Saturday in an attempt to accelerate the Rangers general manager’s efforts to deal the 23-year-old defenseman.

Del Zotto, who was a scratch in Friday night’s 5-2 defeat to the Penguins for the second straight game and eighth time in the last 24 matches, has been on the open market for more than a month, but the Rangers have yet to field an offer to pique their interest.

League sources reported the team has not exactly been aggressive in seeking to trade the fifth-year defenseman, who as recently as last Friday got 24:37 of ice time on the second pair after Anton Stralman went down with a first-period injury.

Del Zotto is represented by Don Meehan and Pat Morris of the Newport Sports Agency, whose home office is just outside Toronto. The hoped-for meeting, confirmed by The Post following an initial TSN report on Twitter, may be imperiled by weather and travel issues. Sather was in New York on Friday, scheduled to meet the club in Toronto for the Blueshirts’ match against the Maple Leafs.

Assistant GM Jeff Gorton has just returned from the World Junior Tournament in Sweden and is not scheduled to join the club in Toronto.

Coach Alain Vigneault, who has particularly and peculiarly targeted Del Zotto for criticism throughout the season, went with Conor Allen and John Moore as his third pair against the Penguins, as he did against the Panthers on Tuesday.

Moore, on the receiving end of a thunderous Deryk Engelland hit early in the third to which Ryan Callahan responded immediately, played 16:09. Allen played 16:03 in his third NHL contest.


Taylor Pyatt, placed on waivers by the Rangers on Wednesday, could have been in Hartford on Friday preparing for his first AHL match in 12 years, since playing in 27 games for Rochester in 2001-02 as a 20-year-old, second-year pro. But insteadof preparing for the Wolf Pack’s match against the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre affiliate, he was wearing No. 17 for the Penguins, facing the Rangers after having been claimed on Thursday by Pittsburgh.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last 24 hours,” Pyatt, who had been scratched from eight straight and nine of the last 10 for the Blueshirts, said before the match, in which he played 11:44 and picked up a cross-checking penalty against Allen. “It was a tough New Year’s Day, getting the call at 12:30 and being told I was going on waivers.

“There was definitely a lot going through my mind, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go to the minors, but this is a new opportunity for me and a fresh start,” said the winger, who had one assist in 22 games. “I’m excited to be coming to a team like this that’s in first place in the conference and is a Stanley Cup contender.”
Pyatt had two shots and two penalty minutes in 11:44 of ice time.


Mats Zuccarello tied Chris Kreider for the club’s goal-scoring lead with his 10th of the year. … Callahan played 14:42 in his return to the lineup after missing nine matches. … Henrik Lundqvist allowed at least four goals for the ninth time in 30 starts.