New York Rangers' European Scratches Should Play Friday

The Rangers took all four points from Tampa Bay this weekend, looking very impressive while doing so.

So when it comes to the lineup, most Ranger fans would probably say "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it."

To that I'll have to respectfully disagree. Scoring only four goals on 80 shots is more than alarming, and when our lineup more often resembles a casting call for Vernon Troyer's stunt double than an NHL team we need to worry.

But scouring the waiver wire for the likes of Mats Sundin and Brendan Shanahan is not the answer.  To solve their problems, the Rangers only need to look skyward. No, not towards God, but to the press box.

So far during the two games in Prague and the entire preseason, the undersized Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes have combined for zero goals.  Regular-season scratches Dan Frische and Freddie Sjstrom combined for three goals during limited time this preseason. Add Patrick Rissmiller's size and the Ranger's could have a very imposing lineup.

So who are the casualties, and what would the lineup look like? As I mentioned, Prucha and Dawes (I love Dawes by the way) have underperformed and should sit on Friday. The other player to leave should be Colton Orr.

In my opinion, Aaron Voros has showed enough toughness to compensate for Orr sitting.

This would be my line-up for Friday:

Naslund-Gomez-Drury
Frische-Dubinsky-Zherdev
Voros-Korpikoski-Callahan
Sjostrom-Betts-Rissmiller

While Frische is a center, if he wants to play for the Rangers this year he's going to have to move to the wing. I think his north-south style of play will mesh well with Dubinsky. Frische's hard-nosed play will help set up screens, and hopefully allow the Rangers to score some rebounds off of Zherdev shots. Plus they have a familiarity from their time playing together in Columbus.

Voros moving up to the third line will bring some much needed size to that line, while Sjostrom and Rissmiller will bring offense as well as defensive responsibility to the fourth line.

Opinions or thoughts?

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