Since the start of the season, coach John Tortorella has been consistent in reminding everyone that defense is the toughest position to teach to a young player.
Well, his job just got tougher as one of the youngest backlines in hockey will get younger tonight at Tampa Bay.
Yesterday, the Rangers called up 21-year-old rookie defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti from Hartford (AHL) to replace 12-year veteran Wade Redden. Redden left Wednesday’s 2-1 shootout win over the Panthers with a right arm/shoulder injury just 4:50 into the first period and will be out five-to-seven days.
Redden — who is 32 and has been inconsistent since joining the Rangers last year — said after the game that his arm was in front of him when Panthers rookie, Victor Oreskovich, drove him into the backboards and his arm was “tweaked.”
Before the call-up, Sanguinetti, who will play in his first NHL game, was leading all AHL defensemen with 22 points (six goals, 16 assists). The talented Trenton native was selected by the Rangers in the first round of the 2006 draft, and will add some more offensive firepower to a rookie blueline of Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy, who have both played beyond their experience level so far.
Along with that offensive prowess, Gilroy showed some grit in his game on Wednesday when he dropped the gloves for the first time to challenge Oreskovich, who added to Gilroy’s ire by running Vinny Prospal in the corner at the start of the third peroid. “It means tons to us,” Dan Girardi said afterward. “Matty’s an offensive guy for us. For him to show he’s capable defensively, it shows us he’s willing to pay the price. Any one of us five defensemen would do the same thing. I think we’re all proud of Matt.” After Gilroy’s fight, and his subsequent 10-minute instigator major, the Rangers played out the final 14:20 with just four defensemen. They logged serious minutes: Marc Staal, 30:24; Del Zotto, 28:21; Girardi, 27:34; and Michal Rozsival, 23:19.
One question that Sanguinetti’s arrival does bring up is that the Rangers now have four right-handed defensemen. The pairings have been the same since the start of the year, which means if Sanguinetti was directly to replace Redden, he would be skating with Gilroy, making for an all-rookie combination. The other combos have been Staal-Girardi and Del Zotto-Rozsival.
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Winger Ales Kotalik, who missed Wednesday’s game with soreness in his shoulders that permeates down through his rib cage, skated yesterday and will be a game-time decision tonight.