Morning Skate Notes: Zibanejad Out Sick, Rempe Back to Full Contact

The Rangers are getting ready for another important contest this weekend in Newark and there are a handful of noteworthy points to come from today’s morning skate. 

For starters, Mika Zibanejad is absent with an illness. The line combinations will be listed below but Jusso Pärssinen is acting as his placeholder. Whether or not that holds implications for Zibanejad being an option this weekend will remain to be seen. 

Secondly, Matt Rempe who has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury is practicing as a full participant. He was in a white jersey alongside Chris Kreider, Brett Berard and Sam Carrick so if Rempe rejoins the team Saturday, it will likely come at Berard’s expense. Although first indications of line rushes included Berard on the right side of that fourth line with Rempe rotating in as practice went on. 

The rest of the lines look quite similar to what they were against the Wild earlier this week:

While it’s surely a result of Zibanejad being absent from practice, Brennan Othmann was the one slotting in on the top power play unit in his place. If Zibanejad is good to go tomorrow, I doubt we’ll see any changes but it sure would be nice to see a young player like Othmann get power play time. At the very least, some short of shake up is certainly justified seeing as the Rangers are currently operating one of the coldest power plays in the entire league. 

Lastly, as Vince Mercogliano of USA Today & Lohud.com suggests, it may not mean anything given the fact that the Rangers won’t skate at all tomorrow, but it appears Jonathan Quick was the first goaltender off which typically indicates who will be starting. It could be nothing and likely is, but if Quick’s veteran leadership is enough to get the team to show up the way they need to then by all means. 

I'll have more on the importance of tomorrow's game going live in the morning but regardless of who suits up for this team tomorrow, the effort needs to be that of a playoff game for more than one reason.