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Rangers cut Paille as search goes on for a penalty killer

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Daniel Paille is sent packing on Saturday as GM Jeff Gorton concludes the forward is not the answer to Blueshirts’ penalty kill problem.Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

Daniel Paille is sent packing on Saturday as GM Jeff Gorton concludes the forward is not the answer to Blueshirts’ penalty kill problem.

Daniel Paille didn’t even last a full calendar month with the Rangers. On Saturday, GM Jeff Gorton waived the veteran fourth-line winger he had signed on Jan. 21, abandoning a second failed experiment on the 28th-ranked penalty kill following December’s cut of offseason acquisition Jarret Stoll.

Gorton did receive optimistic news on Ryan McDonagh: His captain has neck spasms and a jaw contusion but no concussion from Thursday night’s headshot by Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov, and he is listed a hopeful “day-to-day” as he prepares to sit out Sunday night’s home game against the Detroit Red Wings.

But the Blueshirts’ first-year GM continues to stare at gaping holes in his penalty kill and forward depth created by last summer’s trade of Carl Hagelin, a problem exacerbated by Rick Nash (left leg bone bruise) due to miss his 12th straight game Sunday and veteran center Dominic Moore’s recent downturn in play.

Gorton probably will call up either Ryan Bourque or Marek Hrivik from the Hartford Wolf Pack Sunday as a short-term Band-Aid, but the penalty kill is persisting as a major problem and perhaps Gorton’s priority approaching the Feb. 29 trade deadline.

That is intriguing because several top forwards on the rental market are also key penalty killers on their current teams. The problem for the cap-strapped Rangers, who have only about $1 million of space, are the salaries of Winnipeg’s Andrew Ladd ($4.5 million) and Boston’s Loui Eriksson ($4.5 million)— not to mention competition from other suitors around the league.

Even lower-level pending unrestricted free agents are costly such as Toronto’s Michael Grabner ($3 million) and Arizona’s Boyd Gordon ($3 million). Another example if he somehow becomes available: Columbus’ Cam Atkinson kills penalties and is a good friend of Rangers center Derick Brassard but carries a $3.5 million hit through 2017-18.

Gorton could try to package free agent-to-be Keith Yandle and the $2.625 million the Rangers pay him in a trade for a forward. The problem is Yandle has become an even bigger part of what the Blueshirts do lately with McDonagh’s recent bad luck as the target of multiple head shots.

So Alain Vigneault needs improvement first from his own players, especially Moore.

The veteran’s 55.6% overall face-off percentage is higher than his last two seasons (54.5% last year, 54.6% in 2013-14), but he is losing an alarming amount of key defensive zone draws. The NHL’s amended Rule 76.4 that requires defensive centers to place their sticks down first probably has an impact, but the fourth-line center’s overall performance has dropped, too, his coach agreed Saturday.

“It’s safe to say that our expectations of that line are a little bit higher than what we’re getting at this time,” Vigneault said after practice. “The only player that I really want to I’m say satisfied with what he’s bringing is Tanner (Glass). I know he’s gonna bring that physicality every game. Dan was alright but we’re looking for a little upgrade there, and Dom’s play needs to be better, there’s no doubt.”

Vigneault said the coaching staff has talked to Moore “and we’re hoping that he can get his game together. Face-offs, the penalty killing aspects, the defensive aspects: they’re all areas where he’s been better in the past and he’s not doing as well right now.”

The coach admitted his team was “outworked” in the first period of Thursday night’s hideous 4-2 win in Toronto, and is hoping rookie Dylan McIlrath can add juice to the lineup in McDonagh’s absence on Sunday.

The Rangers, meanwhile, hoped a Saturday CT scan would reveal no further damage to McDonagh’s right jawbone, which Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds sucker-punched on Feb. 6 to concuss McDonagh and Komarov clipped with his left elbow on Thursday.

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