Victor Mancini gets call for Rangers against Oilers; Filip Chytil not ready to return

Victor Mancini will be back in on the blue line for the New York Rangers when they play the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday night. He’ll take the place of third-pair defenseman Zac Jones, who’s day to day with an upper-body injury.

Mancini’s recall from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Friday came as a surprise, considering that the Rangers were already carrying seven defensemen; 34-year-old Chad Ruhwedel has been a healthy scratch ever since he was recalled 10 days ago when Mancini was sent down. But the move made sense when the Rangers disclosed the injury to Jones after the morning skate on Saturday.

“He was here, he didn’t do anything to lose that spot, we just didn’t want him sitting here not playing games. To keep him going and developing, he went back down to play games,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette explained Saturday. “Now he’s back. ‘Rudy’ is a good defenseman for us, he’s played well. But the way it came out of camp, we were going with Vic at the time and I was upfront and honest and said if I could play seven I would, but we can’t. We just didn’t want him sitting here doing nothing and so we sent him down to play games until we needed him again.”

The 22-year-old defenseman, New York’s fifth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, scored one goal in three games with Hartford before being recalled. He takes the roster spot that had been filled by center Jake Leschyshyn, who was returned to Hartford.

The recall came as Mancini was getting ready for practice with Hartford on Friday; he said he finally arrived at the team hotel in Edmonton at 3:30 on Saturday morning.

Mancini was one of the surprises of training camp, earning a spot on the opening-night roster and a regular spot on the third defense pairing for the Rangers’ first nine games, during which he had four points (one goal, three assists) and was plus-3 while playing an average of 15:21. But he hadn’t dressed for a game since New York’s 2-1 home win against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 1 and was sent to the minors to get some playing time after being a healthy scratch for four games.

His underlying numbers give an indication about why Mancini was sent down. In all situations, he was on the ice for 49 scoring chances for and 97 against, as well as three high-danger chances for and six against, per Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers were outshot 97-51 with Mancini on the ice, but he still managed a plus-3 rating, despite the poor analytics.

Jones, a third-round pick by the Rangers in the 2019 draft, bounced between the Rangers and the Hartford for three seasons before spending all of last season with New York, playing 31 games, mostly as the team’s seventh defenseman. The 24-year-old has played 13 games this season, averaging 15:48 of ice time. He has five points (one goal, four assists) and is plus-9.

Filip Chytil to miss 4th straight game for Rangers

The Rangers also said third-line center Filip Chytil will miss his fourth straight game since sustaining an upper-body injury in the Rangers’ 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14.

Chytil skated with the extras at the morning skate before the game against the Flames and did the same on Saturday.

The trio of Chytil between Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko (who spent some time at center against Calgary) has arguably been the best third line in the NHL during the first six weeks of the season. Chytil has nine points (four goals, five assists) and is plus-9 while averaging 13:40 of ice time.