Rangers' Taylor Raddysh promoted to top line as Mike Sullivan tries balancing act

CALGARY, Alberta  — With just one win in their last six games, and with injuries starting to become more of a factor, Rangers coach Mike Sullivan decided he needed to change things up.

So, with Matt Rempe out with an upper-body injury and Vincent Trocheck still not skating and not anywhere close to a return, Sullivan opted to jumble up his forward lines before the Rangers’ opened their four-game road trip Sunday night against the Flames, whose 1-7-1 record entering the night was the worst in the league.

Sullivan promoted Taylor Raddysh to the top line, dropped Will Cuylle to the third line, and tried to spread out his offense throughout the lineup, rather than concentrating most of the firepower on the top two lines.

“There's more balance,’’ Sullivan said after the team’s practice Saturday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. “You know, when we're on the road, we can't always control the matchups, so when you have a balanced attack, that helps a little bit on both sides of the puck. I feel like with the way we're constructed right now . . . there's threats offensively, but also there's more conscientious play [on each line].’’

The biggest change was moving Raddysh, who scored three goals in Thursday’s 6-5 OT loss to San Jose, to the first line, as the right wing with Artemi Panarin and J.T. Miller. Raddysh also was added to the power play’s second unit, along with callup Brennan Othmann, who replaced Rempe in the lineup.

“I think his last couple [games] he's played really well,’’ Sullivan said of Raddysh. “Obviously, the last game he had was a real strong game for him. And I think performance matters. And so, the guys that play well, we're trying to reward with more significant ice time or opportunity.’’

Raddysh’s second career hat trick vaulted him into the team lead for goals with four, which was probably not what the Rangers expected when they signed him this summer to a two-year, $3 million contract as a free agent. He was supposed to add some size (6-2, 201), grit, and a few goals to the Blueshirts’ bottom-six forward group. He was not expected to be a top-six forward.

“It’s obviously nice when you get rewarded with stuff like that, but at the same time, you can't take it for granted,’’ Raddysh said. “You’ve got to go up there and play your game, not change anything. And yeah, with J.T. and Bread [Panarin], it's obviously two highly skilled guys . . . two easy guys to play with.’’

Raddysh, 27, was a second-round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2016 draft. He was traded to Chicago at the trade deadline in 2022 and played two-plus seasons there, scoring a career-high 20 goals in 2022-23, before signing as a free agent with Washington last season. He had seven goals and 20 assists in 80 games for the Caps before signing with the Rangers.

“They were one of the teams I called and that's a place where I felt like I had some opportunity to step in and kind of create a role,’’ Raddysh said of his decision to sign with the Rangers. “And I felt like it was a place where I could mix well . . . with the top six they have, and skill they have, to be either a complementary guy to some of them or just a player that can create stuff every night on my own.’’

The other lines saw Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere playing with Conor Sheary, Cuylle with rookie center Noah Laba and Othmann, and, with Rempe out, Juuso Parssinen taking his spot at right wing on the fourth line with Adam Edstrom and Sam Carrick.

Parssinen, who was expected to be the third-line center entering training camp, lost the role to Laba but has managed to be productive as a winger after Trocheck got injured in the second game of the season. He scored a goal Thursday against San Jose and entered Sunday’s game with two goals, one assist and plus/minus of plus-3 in five games. And Carrick said having him on his wing could allow him to share some of the center’s duties on the line.

“[Parssinen] being able to play center is nice for me,’’ Carrick said. “We can interchange a little bit on faceoffs and all that [Carrick is a righthanded shot and Parssinen a lefty, so each can take faceoffs on his strong side] . . . He's done a really good job this year with his situation, and just coming in and making an impact in the games. And obviously he had a huge goal last game for us.’’

Notes & quotes: Igor Shesterkin got the start in goal . . . Forward Jonny Brodzinski and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen were the scratches.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.