Jim Mone/Associated Press Darroll Powe, recently acquired in a trade with the Wild, could make his Rangers debut Tuesday.2:04 p.m. | Updated The Rangers reassigned forward Brandon Mashinter to Connecticut Tuesday afternoon.
NEWARK – Three new forwards were with the Rangers at their morning skate ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Devils: Darroll Powe, acquired Monday from Minnesota in a trade for Mike Rupp; J.T. Miller, the Rangers’ No. 1 draft choice in 2011 and a star with the United States team that won the world junior championship last month; and Brandon Mashinter, a rugged winger who, like Miller, was called up from the Rangers’ American Hockey League farm club in Hartford.
Although Coach John Tortorella would not disclose his lineup, Powe and Miller were expected to play versus the Devils, and Mashinter was a possibility as well. If Miller plays, it would be his N.H.L. debut.
Tortorella did give the reasoning behind calling up Miller, as well as making the trade that cost the Rangers the tough but low-scoring Rupp, 33, in order to get the situational depth provided by Powe, 27.
“Powe is a guy that can kill penalties, has played in the league, does a lot of little things on the boards, certainly adds to our depth in a lot of different situations where I can move people around, so we’re happy to get him,” Tortorella said. “Rupper, I don’t have a bad word to say about him. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.”
But, Tortorella continued: “I had a tough time getting him on the ice as much as I really wanted to. I’m just worried about the speed of the game. He certainly brings some jam and has been a really good teammate, but it’s a situation we’ve talked about — I’m a little concerned with the middle of our lineup and the versatility that we do not have right there right now. I think it’s a good thing for Rupper toward the end of his career, he’s going to go play. And I think this young man we’ve brought in here is going to help us.”
Rupp had not scored this year and managed only five points last season; his contribution was to be a big (6-foot-5), effective enforcer. He was in 15 fights in 68 games as a Ranger. But with several other fighters on the team, Rupp became expendable.
“The way our team is, I think we can handle any type of situation,” Tortorella said. “Again, the biggest thing for me with Rupper was just the pace of the game.”
Tortorella said he was “really interested” in seeing how Miller would play after starring in the world juniors and playing half a season in the A.H.L. But he said he told Miller not to feel pressure.
“We give him just a little bit of a foundation of how we play,” he said. “We try to take some pressure off of him. You need to get out of his way – whoever plays tonight, kids or whatever, you need to get out of the way and let them play.”
“We want to take a look,” Tortorella said. “If things happen in a good way for them, we’ll keep playing them. We’ll coach them. But we certainly are always thinking of the process and the development in the right way so that they build a foundation the correct way.
“I think with the guys that we have here, they’ll understand to just keep their game simple, do the best they can and certainly don’t go out with a bunch of things in your head.”
SLAP SHOTS: Ryan Callahan and Chris Kreider skated with the team this morning, wearing regular sweaters as opposed to those that designate no contact. Tortorella said he would talk to the trainers to see if Kreider was fully recovered from the bone chip in his ankle and was clear for contact going forward.
Callahan was on the injured reserve list, still 7 to 10 days away from returning from a shoulder injury. But, Tortorella said, that didn’t mean a whole lot in Callahan’s case.
“Ryan Callahan is going to have contact no matter if we clear him or not,” he said to reporters’ laughter. “That’s how it works with him. We really don’t make those decisions.”
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