Rangers Coach Mike Sullivan Mourns Loss of Ron Duguay

New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan opened his Thursday morning media availability by expressing his condolences on the passing of former Rangers player Ron Duguay. Duguay, who played eight seasons of his 12-year NHL career with the New York Rangers, died on Thursday after a battle with colon cancer. He was 69.

“Obviously, it’s a big loss for all of us,” Sullivan said. “The Rangers organization, in particular. We know he was a very popular Ranger. I had the privilege to play with Ron as a teammate for a year in the International Hockey League. A great man and a terrific hockey player.”

Sullivan and Duguay were teammates during the 1990-91 season with the San Diego Gulls. Sullivan, who was beginning his playing career and later joined the NHL in October 1991, played alongside Duguay during the latter part of Duguay's career. Duguay went on to play parts of five seasons with the Gulls.

“I grew up watching some of these guys when he played with the Rangers and I had the opportunity to play with him and Charlie Simmer,” Sullivan recalled. “Two guys that had pretty, pretty successful NHL careers. It was the International Hockey League back in the day, for those of you guys that are old enough to remember it. I was in awe of those two guys because I grew up watching them play in the NHL. Just to have the opportunity to be one of their teammates was a great thrill for me as a young player.”

In other team news, defenseman Sean Durzi, who missed Wednesday's practice for maintenance, participated in morning skate and was expected to play against Toronto. Goaltender Dylan Garand is set to make his sixth consecutive start, though Sullivan indicated he is mindful of the rookie's workload. "Big picture, we have an eye on what the schedule looks like and how we’re going to try to utilize our goaltenders, but right now, we think he’s in a good place,” Sullivan stated earlier in the week.

Among NHL players with at least 175 faceoff attempts this season, Rangers center J.T. Miller ranks third in faceoff win percentage at 57.3%, followed by Mika Zibanejad, who ranks fifth at 55.4%.