Will Cuylle getting first-ever chance at center as Rangers glaring depth issue grows more dire

Will Cuylle, quite simply, had never skated at center.Not during his four-plus seasons with the Rangers.Not during his 87 games with AHL Hartford.

Not during his three years with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires or during his youth hockey days with the Toronto Marlboros, either. “Never seen my number in the middle before,” Cuylle said.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.

But that changed Monday, when the Rangers practiced ahead of their home match against the Blues.There was Cuylle, on the third line between Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand, as head coach Mike Sullivan put his lines in a blender and the Blueshirts’ lack of center depth was on display once again.Cuylle said he’s comfortable taking faceoffs, and he has won 53.8 percent of them this year.

He has occasionally been stuck as the low forward too, and executed center responsibilities on the fly.This tweak, though, would be different, with the Rangers center experiment reaching the point where even wingers are plausible options.“Will has a lot of the qualities and the attributes that I think would allow him to be effective at that position,” Sullivan said.“He can skate.

He has good size.He can lean on people down low.

He takes faceoffs regularly.… And so we felt this time we’d try to effect a little bit of change to see if we can create a little bit more momentum for our group.”The Rangers’ lack of centers has been well documented dating back to training camp, when they only kept four on the initial roster.

Joe Veleno’s injury during the fourth game prompted the ineffective recalls of Cole Beaudoin and Justin Dowling and then the signing of veteran Luke Glendening.And at the top of their lineup, the Blueshirts have relied on Mika Zibanejad and J.T.

Miller as their centers for the first two units.But buried beneath some of their other woes this season have been the s...