Ryan McDonagh may have escaped with his brain, shoulder, collarbone and neck all intact after being run recklessly into the wall from behind by Andrew Ference in overtime of Saturday’s Battle of Boston, with early signals emerging that one of the Rangers’ signal defenseman was more battered than injured in the aftermath of the incident.
Regardless, the loss of McDonagh for even the shortest-term 3:06 of overtime before Marian Gaborik’s magic stick lifted his team to a 3-2 victory, served as an SOS to general manager Glen Sather to find a defenseman for the post All-Star meat-grinder in which the Rangers will play their final 35 games in 68 days.
Marc Staal has averaged a tick over 20:00 per in his last six games with the temptation to get this essential component into heavy lifting ASAP too much for Tortorella to resist even after pledging more than once the matchup alternate captain would be weaned into the action on the third pair after missing the first 36 matches with post-concussion symptoms.
Girardi, who played a Norris Trophy-worthy game in Boston in this Norris-worthy season, is leading the league in average ice time at 27:33, the most since Zdeno Chara got 27:57 per in 2006-07. Girardi is leading the league in even-strength time per at 21:49 while third in blocked shots and fifth among defensemen in hits.
Girardi is doing hard time all the time, matched as he is against the opposition’s top line, shift after shift, game after game, with either McDonagh or Staal.
The Rangers have been circumspect in dispensing information about players with head injuries, so it is impossible to gauge where Michael Sauer stands in his recovery from the concussion he sustained Dec. 5, knowing the defenseman has been kept off the ice since Thursday after skating three straight days at the beginning of last week.
And even if McDonagh is not concussed, there is no guarantee he won’t experience symptoms after another blow down the road. That’s part of the problem in factoring a victim’s health into supplementary discipline decisions, including the three-game sentence Ference received yesterday.
The Rangers have depth on defense, including Steve Eminger, sidelined with a separated shoulder, and Jeff Woywitka, who presumably would play tomorrow night if McDonagh can’t go against the Jets at the Garden.
So the charge for Sather is not to find just any defenseman, but one Tortorella will trust for major minutes down the stretch.
The Rangers have always liked the Hurricanes’ Tim Gleason, but there’s a question whether he skates well enough for this coach. Sheldon Souray is an interesting proposition, given his ability to bomb away from the power play point, but there’s the question there too regarding his ability to defend, though he is plus-eight averaging 20:29 for the Stars. The rental cost for either is unknown at the moment. And if the Predators indeed make Ryan Suter available, it won’t be for weeks.
It isn’t going to be remotely easy for Sather to come up with a guy for the right price who fits all the requirements, but that’s the assignment the GM must complete, and sooner rather than later.