McDonagh healthy, back on ice
When Ryan McDonagh last appeared with the Rangers, the defenseman was dragging himself up and down the ice at Madison Square Garden, playing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on a broken right foot.
After an offseason spent largely in a walking boot at his home in Minnesota, the captain still feels the “sting” of falling short of the Stanley Cup, but no longer feels any pain from the lateseason injury. Having healed without surgery, McDonagh can now skate without limitations or lingering thoughts of the injury.
“It’s good. It feels pretty much normal now,” McDonagh said Monday at the U.S. Open, where he worked with children on promoting multisport participation. “Not even really thinking about it on a daily basis, so it’s nice. It doesn’t get sore after skates and I’m able to do everything I want to do in the weight room trainingwise, so hopefully it’s in the past now.”
McDonagh has been skating the past week with roughly 15 teammates and said he hasn’t needed additional treatment on his foot following the sessions.
Feeling comfortable again back on the ice, the 26yearold also noted a new confidence being with the team, entering his second season as captain.
“It makes me feel a lot more comfortable in it and more mature in that role,” McDonagh said. “It’s something that’s feeling more natural now and a part of me, trying not to change who I am, just try and be a good teammate, someone guys can look for as an example on and off the ice and bounce questions off about what it’s like to be a New York Ranger and what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
In the past four years, much has been accomplished, with the Rangers reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 2014. Despite failing to reach their ultimate goal, McDonagh still believes in the core which won the Presidents’ Trophy late season.
“There’s not as much change this year as some other teams experienced, but for us that’s a good thing hopefully, that management believes in us and the group that’s been on this run the last couple years,” McDonagh said.