It is far from being determined what long-term value John Scott can have to the Rangers — if any — but for now, coach John Tortorella can sum up his possible impact very succinctly.
“He’s big,” Tortorella said. “That’s all I got.”
Yesterday was Scott’s first practice with the Rangers after being acquired from the Blackhawks in exchange for a fifth-round pick just before Monday’s NHL trading deadline.
The 6-foot-8, 270-pound pugilist will travel with the team to Carolina for tonight’s game against the Hurricanes but is unlikely to play.
Scott, who logged 48 penalty minutes in 29 games this season for Chicago, said he was “ecstatic” when he heard the news he was traded.
“I was enjoying a quiet day out in Chicago, me and wife doing laundry, playing with the [two-month-old] baby, and all of sudden I thought I got sent down when I got the call to be traded,” Scott said. “So I thought, ‘Oh, a bonus.’ First place in the league, just rolling right now — to come to a team like this is an honor.”
Scott was in the Blackhawks’ lineup during a contentious 4-2 Rangers’ loss at the Garden on Feb. 16, when he put a late hit on John Mitchell that was called for boarding, sparking a melee that resulted in offsetting roughing penalties for himself and Mike Rupp.
Ironically, Scott was on a line with Mitchell and Rupp, skating as a forward yesterday.
“I told [Mitchell] I still don’t think it was a penalty when I hit him,” Scott said. “We talked and there’s no hard feelings. It is weird [because] it was such a heated game.”
With his size, the 29-year-old Scott has spent the majority of his career — 140 NHL games — as an enforcer, someone sent to the ice to protect his teammates. With the Rangers seemingly on a collision course for a playoff matchup with the hard-nosed Bruins, Scott now adds some depth in the form of toughness.
“I think as a unit, as a whole, we’re a pretty resilient team, a pretty tough team, and we stick together and we don’t back down,” Brian Boyle said. “But I think somebody that can bring more of that can certainly help.”
Scott, who carries a full-season salary cap hit of $512,500 and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, estimated he evenly split his ice time this season between playing forward and defense, even alternating at times from shift to shift.
“I’m more comfortable with defense,” Scott said, “but I’m comfortable both ways, wherever [Tortorella] wants me to play.”
Scott, who was the Blackhawks’ player representative, also is acutely aware of the team chemistry that exists in the locker room of the first-place Rangers.
“I just don’t want to mess up what they’ve got going here,” Scott said. “I don’t want to ruin the chemistry here. It’s tough to kind of acclimate yourself to guys.”
* Rangers’ captain Ryan Callahan did not practice, sitting out with what the team called a “bruised foot.” He is listed as day-to-day. Though Tortorella said he had not talked to his training staff about Callahan, he said “unless injuries, I’m not changing the lineup. I like our lineup.”
Ruslan Fedotenko took Callahan’s spot on a line with Brad Richards and Carl Hagelin, while Scott filled in for Fedotenko on the fourth line.