Two hours prior to the drop of the puck at Monday's Winter Classic Rangers head coach John Tortorella announced that defenseman Marc Staal had been cleared by doctors to make his season debut that afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers. Staal, who has been sidelined all season by post-concussion issues and who last played in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals last spring against the Washington Capitals, convinced Tortorella at the team dinner Sunday night that he felt prepared---and healthy enough---to play this afternoon. "Everything was good with our trainer, everything was good with Dr. Cantu, so I sat down with (Staal) and I asked him 'Do you want to play?'," Tortorella explained. "I said 'Staalsie, I don't care about anyone else's opinion, are you ready to play?' and he said he was, so he is playing." The coach said he was not 100% sure which defenseman would come out of the Rangers' lineup today since Ryan McDonagh has been battling the flu, but he did say that Staal would start out on the third defensive pairing. "As far as the minutes and all those things with Marc Staal, that's going to take time," said Tortorella. "He'll play on the third pair today and then make judgements as we go through it. We are not putting him in a Top-Four position, and we'll make judgments about his game as it goes along." Share your thoughts on Staal's return to the lineup below.
