People like to see conspiracies but Girardi was thrown very violently into the boards by Brian Boyle in the Tampa game. Banged up?---yeah I think so. Wanted to play? Yep--but I think he's still hurting and if that's the case we should have McIlrath taking his spot.
Diaz is slicker and smoother than McIlrath but he's like a poor man's version of Dan Boyle---smallish and not great defensively. To me he's an insurance policy.
With Hartford's season over--there should be a few guys up and practicing with the Rangers all the time. Diaz should certainly be one of those guys. He has NHL and NHL playoff experience. We've had Hellberg and Hrivik already up. I would add a few guys to that. Jayson Megna, Nicklas Jensen, Chris Summers, Ryan Graves---perhaps Chris Brown, MacKenzie Skapski, Mat Bodie, Brian Gibbons and Daniel Paille.