DETROIT — Victor Mancini captured the Rangers coaching staff’s attention in the preseason with a body of work that demanded a lineup spot right out of training camp.
From his toughness in possession battles, escape-ability with the puck and knack for taking opponents out of the play, the rookie defenseman continued to earn his spot game after game while Ryan Lindgren, a top-four staple, recovered from jaw surgery.
Even when Lindgren returned, Mancini stayed in the lineup, played alongside him and ultimately skated in nine of the first 10 games of the season.
He beat out Chad Ruhwedel, who the Rangers were willing to lose on waivers on Oct. 24 in order to keep Mancini around.
Ruhwedel ultimately cleared and was assigned to AHL Hartford.
The last three straight games, however, Mancini has been kept in street clothes as head coach Peter Laviolette works through his defensive pair options amid a tough stretch.
“It’s been just somewhat internal of taking things day by day and making sure when I’m on the ice trying to be as locked in as I can in practice,” Mancini told The Post on Saturday morning, after staying on the Little Caesars Arena ice extra long with fellow healthy scratch Jonny Brodzinski. “When I get that extra time on the ice with the coaches by myself, just making sure I’m trying to do the right things and working on my game, working on skills.
“On top of that, just being a good teammate, being supportive. I think our team, we’ve hit some ups and downs, but I think we’re just a really powerful team. When we’re clicking, things are heading in the right direction — just being supportive of that. Being supportive of the guys in practice and off the ice has been what I’ve been trying to do.”
No one wants a 22-year-old who has shown so much promise in such a small amount of time to be collecting dust in the press box.
Especially for a young defenseman, game reps are so important for a player’s development.
But if Mancini has been fast-tracked — and everything the Rangers have done with him indicates as much — there are certainly benefits to him focusing on practice, diving into video and learning the ins and outs of day-to-day life as an NHLer.
“I think that there’s a balance there,” Laviolette said earlier this week. “I do think it’s OK for a young player to come out of the game once in a while and to watch and to go over video and watch from a different angle and then to work on things in practice. I think that’s OK. I think you’ve got to be careful that those stints don’t get extended and stay too long.”
The Rangers want Mancini to take everything in and to learn during this time, but also keep the confidence that he’s gained and not look too far into his consecutive scratches.
It shouldn’t be long before Mancini is back in the lineup, otherwise the Rangers would send him down to get top-pair minutes in Hartford.
While that may be beneficial from him, working alongside veteran NHL players and coaches day after day could be just as advantageous for Mancini in the long run.
“No one wants to be out of the lineup, but when you’re put in that position, you have to find the positives in every situation,” he said. “To be in this locker room and pick guys’ brains, you’re not the first person to be in this situation. To talk to other guys, [hear] what they did and how they dealt with it and then to just go up and watch games and see plays and see how I can implement things into my own game that I see.”
