New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault joined NHL Live to discuss the success of the Rangers and the addition of defenseman Keith Yandle.
General manager Glen Sather was busy before the NHL Trade Deadline, acquiring Yandle and forward James Sheppard, and trading forward Lee Stempniak to the Winnipeg Jets. Yandle debuted Monday in the Rangers' 4-1 win against the Nashville Predators, finishing with three shots and a minus-1 rating in 19:41 of ice time.
Yandle's 22 power-play assists is tied for the League lead and his 26 power-play points are tied for fifth.
"Keith is a real smart player so it's not going to take him any time to get adjusted to the way we do things here," Vigneault said. "We expect everybody to defend when we don't have the puck and when we get it we expect them to go real hard. In [Yandle's] first game [Monday] I thought he played extremely well. He was real competitive in his one-on-one situations and you can see the poise with the puck as much on the breakouts as you did in the offensive zone, where you're able to find outlets and get his puck to the net.
"We feel we've got a real good addition here that should help us not only 5-on-5 but on our power play."
The Rangers begin a season-high five-game road trip Wednesday at the Detroit Red Wings (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN) tied with the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand. The Rangers are 9-1-2 in their past 12 games and 12-2-2 in their past 16.
"Overall our team preparation has been real good individually and collectively," Vigneault said. "This League is about competing and hard work, and that's certainly what our group is doing right now. [Goalie] Cam Talbot has come in and played extremely well for us. He's given us a chance in every game and that's what you need from our goaltenders."
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