Ryan Strome slotted back into the Rangers lineup Tuesday night against the Devils, marking the first return from injury that will further complicate head coach Gerard Gallant’s looming personnel decisions.
After missing the previous four games with an undisclosed lower-body injury, which he suffered against the Sabres at the end of March, Strome returned to his usual post next to Artemi Panarin on the second line. Andrew Copp, who filled in for Strome at center in his absence, moved over to the right wing of that unit.
“He’s a big part of our group, obviously,” Gallant said of Strome. “Power-play unit and playing with [Artemi] Panarin on that line, makes a big difference for our team. He’s an important player for us.”
Now, an extended bench is far from the worst problem to have. Bringing in three forwards at the trade deadline and having two players on injured reserve who will eventually be ready to play again, however, makes for a series of difficult lineup decisions with serious playoff implications on the line.
Kappo Kakko missed his 30th straight game with an upper-body injury, while Kevin Rooney sat out of his 17th in a row with an upper-body injury. The two have been skating on their own, according to Gallant, but are still not ready to join the team.
Gallant said he’s hopeful Kakko and Rooney will get a certain amount of games to integrate back into the lineup before the playoffs start in May. With 12 games left in the regular season, beginning Tuesday night at Prudential Center, Gallant said that number is coming up.
“Obviously they’re skating, obviously they’re real close,” he said. “The doctors control all that, not me. I was hoping they were back two weeks ago. We’ll be patient and make sure they’re ready. When they’re ready, they’re going to be really ready.”
Rooney is expected to return to his fourth-line center role once healthy, but Kakko is a player who Gallant will likely want to experiment with in order to find the perfect spot for him — especially with so many new faces among the forward group.
Kakko is a logical right-wing option for the top six, but if Frank Vatrano continues to succeed in his top-line role, the 21-year-old Finn could be relegated to the third line. While Kakko gives the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad and Panarin-Strome duos a different look, Vatrano’s shoot-first mentality and Copp’s versatile game provide an offensive boost.
The other thing for Gallant to take into consideration is managing the minutes of his top players in preparation for the postseason. However, there will only be so many games for the coach to experiment with a fully healthy squad.
Asked if that’s something he’s thought about, Gallant said yes and no.
“You want to play well, that’s the bottom line,” Gallant said. “We’re going to have a bunch of guys around here, there’s gonna be 25 or 27 guys around here shortly. The injured guys come back. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You want to win hockey games. That’s the bottom line.
“We want to play well and want to get everybody going. But in the same hand, you’d like to give some people a little bit of a break.”