New addition Arthur Kaliyev leads to Rangers shaking up lines

The only constant is change, and it is an ideology the Rangers have become far too accustomed to over the course of the 2024-25 season.

And it continued before Thursday night’s resumption of hostilities at the Garden against the Devils, as Peter Laviolette reconstructed his lineup once again.

Due to the upper-body injury suffered by Filip Chytil late in the second period of Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Stars, Arthur Kaliyev drew into the lineup. Kaliyev, whom the Rangers claimed off waivers from the Kings on Monday, will skate on the third line with centerman Jonny Brodzinski and Brett Berard. Will Cuylle was promoted to the second line with Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith, while Matt Rempe on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom.

Jimmy Vesey and Zac Jones were still on the ice working with assistant coaches following the open dressing room portion of the morning skate, which made it likely that the winger and defenseman would be the scratches.

“It’s his first game with us so he’s got to go on the ice,” Laviolette said of Kaliyev before the optional morning skate at the Garden. The 23-year-old was born in Uzbekistan but moved to Staten Island when he was 2 and lived in the New York City borough until he and his family relocated to Michigan when he was 13, practiced with the team Wednesday.

Kaliyev “had a good practice yesterday,” said Laviolette, who also announced Igor Shesterkin would start in goal for the first time since the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Dec. 30. The franchise goaltender had missed the last four games with an upper-body injury.

“It’s huge,” Cuylle said when asked about the importance of Shesterkin returning to the team. The goaltender has a 11-15-1 record this season with a 3.10 goals against average and .906 save percentage.

With Shesterkin back, the team assigned goaltender Louis Domingue to Hartford of the American Hockey League.

“It’s good to have him back,” Cuylle said. “Obviously a world-class goalie so he should help us out a bit.”

Because for as poorly as this season heretofore has gone for the Rangers, they are still in playoff contention. The Rangers (18-20-2) enter Thursday night’s match with 38 points in 40 games, which had them seventh in the Metropolitan Division and 14th out of 16 in the Eastern Conference.

Which, normally, would be indicators that it is time for team president and general manager Chris Drury to begin to trade away marketable players to playoff contenders for draft picks and prospects and young, cost-controlled NHLers.

But after the top three teams in both the Metropolitan and Atlantic Division, the Rangers find themselves in the logjam of mediocrity that is the remainder of the Eastern Conference. The Rangers trail Tampa Bay by six points and Columbus by four points, respectively, for the East’s first and second wild card slots.

So, no, if the Rangers were to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs it would not be a feat equivalent to the 1978 Yankees, who came back from 14 games back of the Red Sox to win the American League East, although this group has lost 17 of 23 (6-16-1) dating to Nov. 21 and have dropped 21 of their last 34 overall.

But as Cuylle pointed out, the Rangers have begun to play somewhat better hockey in the calendar year 2025. They are 2-1-1 in the last four games and are averaging four goals scored per contest.

“It’s been better, for the most part,” Cuylle said. “A bit more energy and we’re scoring a bit more goals, which is nice. Obviously still a lot of areas we can clean up but I think overall, a bit better.”

The realms that need improvement are – as they have been all season – special teams and team defense.

The Rangers are yielding 3.75 goals per game in the four-game window, and have killed 50% of the power plays against while scoring on 14.3% of their man-advantage opportunities.

Combined, it is a recipe for a long evening against a Devils squad that came into the contest tied for sixth in the league in goals scored (137), and whose power play conversion percentage (28.9) and penalty kill success rate (83.3%) ranks second and sixth in the league in those categories.

“Huge game for us,” Rempe said. “It’ll be exciting.”

Blue notes

Chytil (upper body) skated on his own before the morning skate, which Laviolette called “progression. That’s a good thing.”