Scott ready to protect new teammates

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- While massive John Scott was doing the emotional equivalent of cartwheels over the trade that has made him a Ranger, coach John Tortorella made it clear that his new forward / defenseman is ticketed for an ancillary role in the team's playoff push.

"I'm not changing the lineup, unless for injuries," Tortorella said after Scott's first workout with the Rangers on Wednesday. "I like our lineup."

There is an injury of note to consider. Captain Ryan Callahan missed Wednesday's practice with a bruised foot and, though he will travel with the team for the back-to-back games in Carolina and Tampa on Thursday and Friday, his availability is uncertain.

But Scott was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks to be what hockey euphemistically calls a "protector." He is 6-8, 270 pounds, a physical presence and, by his estimation, the largest player in the league. "I think [Boston's Zdeno] Chara might be a half-inch taller, but I'm heavier," Scott said.

For the record, Chara is listed as 6-9, 255 pounds.

When needed, he is here to keep Rangers opponents in line. "With my size, it's expected wherever I go," Scott said. "I'm expected to protect my teammates. I don't want anybody to take liberties with my teammates and I take pride in that. Make sure my guys have ice to skate around and are not scared out there."

Two weeks ago, in what he called a "heated" game between the Rangers and Blackhawks at Madison Square Garden, Scott flattened 6-1 John Mitchell with a rough boarding penalty, prompting 6-5 Mike Rupp to retaliate. Now they're teammates, Mitchell describing his presence on a line with Scott and Rupp on Wednesday like the "bridge between two towers."

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"I talked to Johnny," Scott said through a grin. "I told him I still don't think that was a penalty. We had a good laugh about it. No hard feelings."

Scott, who had 48 penalty minutes in 29 games with Chicago, also remembered fighting another new teammate, Brandon Prust, in the minors -- "in Quad Cities, a long, long time ago. I tried to punch him; I punched the glass and messed up my hand. He ducked out of the way."

That was then. Scott said he was "ecstatic" about the trade, "super excited" to come to the Rangers. When he got the call about the trade on Monday, he and his wife were "taking a quiet day off, doing laundry and playing with the baby" -- a two-week-old daughter, he said. "I thought I was getting sent down" to the minors.

Instead, he is looking forward to the playoffs "and maybe a ring." And he won't fight that feeling.