Larry Brooks of the NY Post has tweeted that the Rangers are holding out Marc Staal from contact drills, and the first three preseason games as a precaution against recurrence of post-concussion symptoms he experienced over the summer.

Staal has been cleared to play, but the Rangers are being very cautious with their leading defenseman, who traces the symptoms back to a hit in the February 22nd matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes. In that game, his older brother Eric Staal caught him along the defensive side boards.

The Thunder Bay native left the game, and sat out the next three, but played out the rest of the season and the post season.  His level of play had a modest drop off, and it’s possible his concussion went undiagnosed.

Also sitting out of today’s scrimmage was Brandon Prust.  Prust had off-season surgery on his shoulder back in June, and while everything is fine, felt he was held out as a precautionary measure.

Later in the day John Tortorella provided a little more detail on both players.  Staal developed headaches over the Summer, and came to camp still suffering from headaches, though he passed the baseline test administered to all players who had concussions the previous year.

Prust will be held out of contact drills and games for two more weeks, and Tortorella will try to get them into a couple of preseason games in Europe.