Don't say he never asked.

After Derek Stepan fractured his fibula in practice, Martin St. Louis sent a text message to New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault, offering his services through center ice for the next four to six weeks.

“If you need me in the middle, I’m ready,” St. Louis typed.

But as the New York Daily News' Pat Leonard writes, that's not Vigneault's plan to aid his scant center-ice depth:

Instead, the Blueshirts’ coach is proceeding with the original plan to dress the other half of his camp roster for Friday night’s second preseason game in Chicago, with the exception of adding center J.T. Miller, 21, for a second straight start to further test his mettle.

With Stepan out for the first nine to 12 games of the regular season, Vigneault is not simply looking for roster fill-ins. He needs consistency, and he needs to know who can reliably fill the minutes of a player who contributes all over the rink.

The aforementioned Miller and AHL standout Oscar Lindberg will get a look Friday, playing behind Derick Brassard and Dominic Moore.