New York Rangers: Rangers’ depth players pulling their weight

The New York Rangers have had contributions up and down their lineup, as the bottom six forwards have stepped up to help support the team’s recent success.

The New York Rangers entered the season with some question marks in the bottom portion of their forward depth.

With Derek Stepan and Oscar Lindberg’s departure, the talk was all about how the Rangers would compensate for the losses at center and if the bottom six will still produce.

General Manager Jeff Gorton is looking pretty smart right now as some of the discount signings he made have paid dividends for the Rangers up until this point of the season.

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Center David Desharnais has been producing at a high rate in the month of December as he currently sits with 18 points on the season.

There was some skepticism about how Desharnais would really help fill the holes left at center this year as anyone who is signed to a one-year contract is a dice roll. However, he has proved to be a handy player thus far starring on the second power play unit and setting up some key goals in the last several games.

He has been hands down the Rangers’ best player in the face-off circle with a face-off percentage of 56% right now, the team’s highest.

The player Desharnais has seemed to gain some good chemistry with is forward Paul Carey, who has been equally impressive.

Carey has three points in the last three games and made a strong case for Head Coach Alain Vigneault to keep him in the lineup for once Mika Zibanejad returned from injury.

Carey, who was another one-year deal Gorton made in the offseason, was a toss up coming into the year, as he spent most of his last season with the Washington Capitals’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.

He is great in the corners and has some solid speed to his game. He seems to be learning to find himself more and more scoring opportunities at this level as he likes to hang around the net a lot.

Boo Nieves was a player I was looking forward to giving a look this year as he brings good size and hands to the Rangers’ lineup down the middle. He hasn’t produced at a high frequency just yet but he has been a very competent rookie.

Nieves is very valuable to the Rangers’ future given he is not in his prime yet and has rare assets. He is a great two-way player and doesn’t ever turn the puck over. For a rookie being tossed into the mix under high expectations for a fourth line center, I am satisfied.

It is also comforting to know that Michael Grabner had no fluke season last year with his production.

In his second year of a two-year deal, Grabner is continuing to give Gorton his money’s worth as he leads the team in goals at 17 right now. His speed is unmatched and he is always the guy to bury the empty net goal.

Next: The ing is still the driving force

What I think is so great about the lineup right now is that this is a team that can mix and match their lines and instead of lines one, two, three and four, they have four even keeled lines that can be relied upon.

The Rangers look to keep things going on December 27. against the Capitals as they head into Christmas sitting in the first Wild Card spot.