Rangers' Victor Mancini 'at a loss for words' ahead of his expected NHL debut

Victor Mancini, the sensational rookie defenseman who captured everyone’s imagination with his eye-opening preseason, was in an awkward position Monday. Based on his still being around, and how he was being used in practice, it seemed obvious he will be in the Rangers’ opening night lineup Wednesday when they begin the regular season against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

But if it seemed obvious, it was not official. In fact, later that day, Mancini would be one of a number of players technically sent down to AHL Hartford in a paper transaction, as part of the team’s salary cap maneuvers. He was expected to be back Tuesday night and in the lineup Wednesday, but on Monday afternoon, he could only talk in hypotheticals.

“I'll be at a little bit of loss for words,’’ he said when asked what he thought he’d be feeling if, indeed, he makes his NHL debut Wednesday night. “I think it'll be very special to share that with my family as well. Whenever that first game might be, it's going to be really special.’’

At the other end of the spectrum is coach Peter Laviolette, who is beginning his 23rd season as an NHL coach. He said Monday he also finds the start of each season “exciting.’’

“Any year is exciting,’’ he said. “I think once you get through training camp -- there's always that phase, unless you unless you rang the bell at the end of the year (and won the Stanley Cup) there's always that phase when you get out of it… where it's just this depression or sadness… You're in a forward march for however many days, 200 days, and then the season ends, and it's just… everything's just cut off. And with that, you realize that your season's over. And unless you got there, you're probably… not happy about what happened.

“I think it goes away through the course of the summer, and you start to get excited again,’’ he said. “The draft comes, and then free agency comes. You start thinking about the team again, changes (made) to the players, changes to the (coaching) staffs, and then you get out on the ice and training camp, and it's really good. Guys are ready.

“And it starts with Game 1 in Pittsburgh. But I think that there's always an excitement that goes with that.’’

Laviolette acknowledged that expectations are high for the Rangers, as they have been for number of years, ever since they emerged from their three-year rebuild to make the Eastern Conference final in 2022.

And he said as far as what is new from the team that lost to the eventual Cup champion Florida in the conference finals, he said he likes the addition of forward Reilly Smith, who will start the season as the right wing on a line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, is buoyed by the return of center Filip Chytil, who missed the final 72 games of last season with what’s believed to have been a concussion, and he likes what he saw from the young players in preseason who pressed for a roster spot, like Mancini and forward Adam Edstrom.

“I think I said when we started this, you want (youngsters) to come in and battle, you want them to come in and shake you and say, 'I'm here,' ’’ he said. “I think ‘Eddie’ did that. He did it from the rookie games on. And so those things are all positive coming out of training camp… a guy like Mancini, he was impressive.’’

Blue notes

Late Tuesday afternoon the Rangers recalled Mancini and forwards Will Cuylle, Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe from Hartford. The Rangers sent forwards Anton Blidh, Jake Leschyshyn and Adam Sykora and defensemen Matthew Robertson and Ben Harpur to Hartford.

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.