Rangers' Peter Laviolette downplays winning Presidents' Trophy, but players remain motivated

Losing three of four games before this weekend’s back-to-back set against Anaheim and Boston dropped the Rangers from their short stay in the No. 1 overall spot in the league standings. Entering the weekend, the Blueshirts had slipped to fourth in the league behind the Golden Knights, Canucks and Bruins, although their victories over the Ducks and Bruins moved them back into second, two points behind Vegas with two games in hand.

But does anybody care about first place overall? Is that a thing the Rangers should even be trying for?

It’s not any kind of team goal, coach Peter Laviolette said.

“The message isn't, inside the [locker] room, to chase Vegas,’’ Laviolette said during the week. “The message inside the room is to win. Win the day, win the game . . .  We're in control of what we can and can't do, will and won't do. And that's what, really, we should focus on.

“Do we want to make the playoffs, like every other team? Absolutely. Do we want to have success in the playoffs, like every other team? Absolutely. But right now, the only thing that really should be on our plate, on our mind, is the game tomorrow. Being ready to play that game.’’

Of course, all of the Rangers are naturally competitive. They always want to win and to prove they are the best. Laviolette plays up competition in practice, splitting the team into separate squads and having them compete to win practice drills.

So yes, being No. 1 overall means something to these guys.

“All athletes want to be Number 1,’’ Artemi Panarin said. “So we keep trying to do that. Everyone knows the playoffs are the more important thing, but that does not mean we have to just stay in a wild-card [position] and just wait for the playoffs. It does not work like that. You have to play the full year the best as possible. That's it.’’

The team that finishes first overall in the regular season is awarded the Presidents’ Trophy, which is no predictor of who will win the Stanley Cup. In 37 seasons since the Presidents’ Trophy was first awarded after the 1985-86 season, only eight Presidents’ Trophy winners have won the Stanley Cup, the last being Chicago in 2012-13. Last year, Boston had a record-breaking regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs. In 2019, Tampa Bay finished first overall and got swept in the first round.

But while finishing first overall isn’t the goal, it’s something the Rangers  definitely would take pride in.

“I don't think it's the end-all, be-all kind of thing in here,’’ captain Jacob Trouba said. “I think it's more of a long process of building how we play and just playing a consistent game of how we want to play. I think the standings side will kind of take care of itself. But I'd be lying to you if I said it's not something that we pay attention to, for sure. You want to be first, and when you're first or at the top of the league, you're getting everyone's best game. And that kind of makes you prepare and stay on top of your game as well.’’

Protection a personal preference

After forward Jimmy Vesey was struck by a puck that rebounded off the crossbar during practice Thursday, Laviolette was asked if  there may come a time when players might wear more protective gear, specifically full face shields attached to their helmets, like the one Barclay Goodrow has been wearing since returning after he took a puck in the face in a game in Ottawa on Dec. 5.

“Unless something's mandated by the league, that would be a personal preference,’’ Laviolette said.

He tried to draw a parallel between face protection and the various forms of skate cut protection some players are wearing on their wrists and their necks, particularly in the wake of the October death of Adam Johnson, whose neck was sliced by a skate in a game in England. Forwards Nick Bonino and Blake Wheeler have started to wear neck protection, and other NHL players are waiting for neck protectors or undershirts with the cut-resistant technology to be delivered.

Laviolette noted that there is a difference between skate-cut protective garments and a full face shield.

“I do think that having a whole cage, I think that there's a vision thing that goes on with that,'' he said, "where the underwear that covers your wrist or your neck, I don't think that's prohibitive to play the game.’’

Slow progress for Chytil

It’s been six weeks since center Filip Chytil suffered an upper-body injury in the Nov. 2 game against Carolina, and while Laviolette says he is making progress, he’s been skating on his own for weeks now and still hasn’t been able to practice with the team, even in a non-contact setting.

Chytil, who is believed to have suffered a concussion, and former Kid Line linemate Kaapo Kakko (out with a lower-body injury) remain on long-term injured reserve, and Laviolette wouldn’t or couldn’t give any kind of timetable for either player’s potential return.

“They're working, they're training in different ways,’’ he said. “Both are improving and getting better.’’

Laviolette had said earlier he does expect Chytil to return to the team, but it is believed that he has had multiple concussions, and if he is dealing with one now (the Rangers have never said what the injury is, other than calling it an upper-body injury), there can be no assurances.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.