"The Rangers' search for a defenseman will become more serious following yesterday's setback that kept Marc Staal off the ice with re-occurring post-concussion symptoms.

After coach John Tortorella reported on Sunday that Staal had been "progressing nicely" after experiencing headaches as late as late last week, the coach said yesterday the first-pair defenseman "just didn't feel good," upon reporting to the rink in the morning and as such was kept off the ice.

"It's an ongoing, fluid situation," Tortorella said of Staal, whose continuing issues seven months after being concussed on a hit from his older brother Eric have alarm bells ringing within the organization. "This is the process we're going to go through as we try to help him through this.

"We're erring on the side of caution here. We're going to be patient with him.""