Despite their hot start to the season that includes a recent six-game winning streak, the Rangers are looking for more production from their top line and on Monday, head coach Peter Laviolette moved Blake Wheeler up on the right wing, with Kaapo Kakko bumped to the third line.
“I think I’m just looking for a little bit more out of that line,” Laviolette said following practice with Detroit coming to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. “Out of all the lines, really.”
For now, though, he’s looking at Wheeler — who has underperformed for much of the early part of the season — to provide a spark alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
“At some point, if something’s not getting the results you’re looking for from a five-on-five standpoint with regard to a line or [defensive] pair or a team, you look at what maybe you could do to see if you could give it a different look,” said the coach.
Laviolette made no promises the top line would see the ice together against the Red Wings, or that Kakko would remain on the third line with Will Cuylle and Nick Bonino.
But Wheeler is looking forward to the potential opportunity after not showing much offensively to start the season.
“Any time you get a chance to play with [Zibanejad] and [Kreider], you want to be an asset and try to create some positive momentum when we’re out there,’’ Wheeler said.
As Laviolette noted, Wheeler has been a consistent scorer even late into his career with 55 points (and 16 goals) with Winnipeg last season.
“I’ve been fortunate to do it for a long time,’’ Wheeler said. “I feel, given time and space, I can make things happen out there. I just want to bring energy to that line. Hopefully that translates into a lot of scoring opportunities.”
Kakko and Wheeler have both played 11 games this season and Kakko has just one goal and one assist and the 37-year-old Wheeler is goalless and also has just one assist.
Of Monday’s switch, Laviolette said, “I think, more than anything, I wanted to change the scenery for Blake, for Kappo and [for] Mika. Just change the scenery a little bit and see if that does anything and not throwing everything into a blender.”
The Rangers also have been impacted by injuries, which has forced Laviolette to move more pieces around.
Despite Wheeler’s lack of scoring, he has played better in each of the Rangers’ past two games, against Carolina and then in Minnesota.
“I think he’s moving his feet better,’’ Laviolette said. “This is a guy who puts up points.”
Asked if Kreider and Zibanejad need a certain type of right wing in order to get the most out of the line, Laviolette said he wasn’t sure.
He noted that he’s used Artemi Panarin in the spot “quite a few times and that’s a different type of player.”
Panarin spent some shifts there against Minnesota and Laviolette added he’s “looking at everything.”
And he also didn’t rule out putting Kakko back there.
“This isn’t to say, either, we don’t go back with [Kakko] at some point,’’ Laviolette said. “There have been plenty of games [when we] have generated chances. To see the way [the changes] look for a night or for a day or [Tuesday], or possibly for a game, I see how it looks, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Maybe [Kakko] is that guy. I think you have to give it a stretch to see what happens. Maybe it helps [Kakko] and all of a sudden he’s producing more points with a different line, different matchups.”
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