FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet

By Bruce Berlet

The Connecticut Whale added one member of the parent New York Rangers on Wednesday and another could be coming for a refresher course.

The Rangers assigned forward Todd White to the Whale after he had seen limited ice time with the NHL team in the past month. White, 35, had one goal and one assist in 18 games and cleared waivers for the fourth time on Wednesday.

White, who has a $2.375 million contract, was eligible to be sent to the AHL in 30 days, and it seemed almost certain that it would happen this time since wing Mats Zuccarello and his $1.75 million cap charge is on the Rangers roster now. Zuccarello is on his second recall from the Whale and played this third NHL game Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils.

White was acquired by the Rangers on Aug. 2 from the Atlanta Thrashers for former Hartford Wolf Pack forwards Donald Braesher and Patrick Rissmiller.

White’s situation is similar to what transpired with Devils veteran forward Brian Rolston, who was sent to the Albany Devils on Tuesday so that he can be placed on re-entry waivers to see if another team might be interested in claiming him. White and Rolston had to report to their AHL teams before they can be put on re-entry waivers. If another team claims them, that team will pick up half of their $2.375 million and $5.026 million salary cap hit through next season, with the Rangers and Devils eating the rest.

Meanwhile, Rangers coach John Tortorella said 20-year-old defenseman Michael Del Zotto might be sent to the Whale to try to regain his game. Del Zotto has struggled much of the season and missed practice on Tuesday and his third consecutive game Wednesday night because of a groin/lower stomach problem for which he received a cortisone injection. He previously had the flu and was a healthy scratch and replaced by Matt Gilroy, who rediscovered his game while getting four assists in five games during a 10-day stint with the Wolf Pack last December.

“For a young guy at that position, (going to the AHL) is always an option, especially with the freedom we have as far as moving young players up and down without any ramifications (waivers not required),” Tortorella told the Rangers media. “We’re going to try to work with him here, and I wish he was on the ice practicing, but (trainer Jim Ramsey) felt in the long term that it would be good for him (to have the cortisone shot) now. So we’ll see how it all plays out, but sending him down is an option. We did it with (Gilroy) last year, and at this position especially, that isn’t a bad thing.”

Tortorella said time with the Whale might help Del Zotto cut down on recurring mistakes that have plagued the second-year pro much of the season. Tortorella’s biggest concern has been Del Zotto’s penchant for the risk/reward “home run” pass instead of the safer outlet pass.

“With Michael, it starts with mistakes, and it’s the same mistakes, which is what we are trying to make him understand and why he’s out,” Tortorella said. “It basically comes down to patience. He needs to be more of a patient player. Instead of making a 60-foot pass, it could be a 15-foot pass. I think his defensive game has been more consistent than his offensive game. I know he has really worked on the defensive part of his game, but it’s the same mistakes, trying to do too much at the wrong time, and that’s what happens at that position. It’s a position of looks coming at you and looks getting us out of our own zone wherever they may be in the neutral zone.”

Tortorella hopes Del Zotto quickly ends his inconsistency or it’ll be off to Hartford for a tutorial with some of the Whale’s young defensemen, who could be taking his spot on Broadway if Del Zotto doesn’t heed the wishes of his coach.

“Hopefully when he gets back in, as with Gilroy, that it reaches him and he does make those easy plays and lets the game come to him,” Tortorella said. “A huge part of Michael’s game is he’s always looking over there (in the distance) instead of right there (nearby). Instead of looking (in the distance), make it, ‘OK, let me dump it off and let you carry the puck and maybe I’ll join in.’

“But it’s hard when you’re under pressure and teams are coming at you and baiting you. That’s how teams forecheck. They bait you to an area and want you to put the puck there and then they’re going to jump you. It’s not a fancy play to give it right to someone, and it’s not a dangerous play (either). If I make that long play, it looks great, but the little one that no one will really notice is what we want brought into Michael’s game. The unnoticeable plays make it easier for us to get through the neutral zone or in our breakouts.”

Del Zotto, the Rangers’ first-round pick (20^th overall) in 2008, has two goals and seven assists in 34 games after getting nine goals and 28 assists in 80 games his rookie season. He was scratched for the first time in his career at Ottawa on Dec. 9 before playing the next five games. But after being minus-3 in Philadelphia on Dec. 18, Del Zotto likely would have been a healthy scratch for last Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning if he hadn’t contracted the flu. He didn’t play against the New York Islanders on Monday night and wouldn’t have played Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils after two strong performances by Gilroy.

If Del Zotto doesn’t turn things around quickly for an injury-plagued team that has been grinding out wins all season, he likely would benefit from playing in Hartford with veteran defenseman Wade Redden, who has already helped the Whale’s young defensive corps on and off the ice, especially while paired with rookies Tomas Kundratek and Jyri Niemi.

While White was headed to Hartford and might be soon followed by Del Zotto, Zuccarello was getting more acclimated to The Big Apple by the day.

“I think everybody knows you’re not going to come in and play two games and feel comfortable right away,” said Zuccarello, who scored in a shootout in a 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay and then got his first NHL point in a 7-2 rout of the Islanders while playing on the top line with rookie center Derek Stepan and sniper Marian Gaborik. “It’s gonna take some time. You just feel more and more comfortable the more you play, and the more you feel the coach believing in you. These two first games, it’s been unbelievable. I’ve been playing a lot, playing every situation, so you get more and more comfortable, but it’s a long way to go to get real comfortable.

“I’m still a rookie, I’ve only played two games. … It’s a little different setup (from the AHL), forechecking a little bit more and how we forecheck and stuff like that. First game, I was thinking about ‘where do I go now?’ Hopefully that just sticks in your mind and you just go like that every time and get comfortable.”

Zuccarello has been helped in getting adapted to the NHL by being in a corner of the Rangers’ practice facility locker room with fellow rookies Stepan and former Wolf Pack defenseman Michael Sauer, who are flanked by veterans Gaborik and Vinny Prospal on one side and former Wolf Pack players Ryan Callahan (out with broken hand) and Dan Girardi on the other.

“Vinny’s been – almost from day one in camp – he’s been talking to me a lot, and he’s just a nice guy,” Zuccarello said. “Then you have Sauer, who I can talk to about Hartford and those things. He’s been there and knows how it is to get up here. You’ve got Step, too, it’s a good feeling – Step’s been taking care of me now, and it’s a good thing for him to do. He drove me to practice (Tuesday), him and (Brian Boyle) are taking care of me. It’s a great group of guys, and you feel comfortable coming into the locker room. Everybody’s nice to you and it’s – like I said a hundred million times before – it’s just a great feeling to be here.”