WHAT A PAIN
List of hurting Rangers not getting any smaller
It is safe to say that Filip Chytil is not coming off injured reserve anytime soon, since the Czech center has yet to resume skating after sustaining an undisclosed upper-body injury earlier this month.
Chytil was eligible to return to the lineup and play in the Rangers’ last game against Columbus, as per IR guidelines, but the fact that he hasn’t seen the ice in a week and a half doesn’t bode well for a swift return.
Adam Fox, of course, has been on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury and will be unavailable for at least the next six games. And now, the Rangers are collectively holding their breath to see if Fox’s defensive partner, Ryan Lindgren, participates in practice on Wednesday after he was slammed headfirst into the boards and knocked out of the Sunday’s game in the third period.
“It’s just maintenance today for him,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of Lindgren, who opted not to take the ice for the Rangers’ optional practice on Monday. “We’ll evaluate and see where he’s at on Wednesday.”
In a positive injury update, Igor Shesterkin appears on pace to return to game action on Saturday against the Devils.
The Russian netminder has been unavailable the past four contests due to minor soreness that started after the Hurri- canes game. Despite participating in practice throughout the duration of this nagging issue, Shesterkin hasn’t dressed for a game since Nov. 2.
“I’ll probably go slow with commenting on that,” Laviolette said of Shesterkin’s availability. “He’s going without any restrictions from us and that’s a positive sign.”
“I would rather have him available to our team and found games for Jonathan [Quick]. Jonathan is playing really well right now. But I would rather not have players injured and say, ‘Well, they’ll be more rested down the stretch.’ We’re through it and we got through it and we were somewhat successful with regard to our team, but I would rather have healthy players and have them available. [Monday was] another good day’s work for [Shesterkin].”
Wednesday’s practice should provide some sort of clarity on Lindgren, who has already missed one game this season due to an upper-body injury. Should Lindgren be unavailable, however, Connor Mackey is evidently first in line to step in.
The Rangers signed Mackey to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 this past offseason and it appears the 27-year-old defenseman has leapfrogged Ben Harpur on the organization’s depth chart.
Part of it is likely because the club wants to know what they have in Mackey, while they have already seen Harpur skate in 42 NHL games and 24 AHL games. Perhaps the coaching staff turnover did not bode well for Harpur, who was in ex-coach Gerard Gallant’s favor.
Mackey, who skated in 30 NHL games last season between the Flames and Coyotes, has recorded one goal and one assist in eight games with the Wolf Pack this season.
The Rangers have managed to go 3-0-1 since losing Fox, Chytil, Shesterkin, Quick for a brief second and then Lindgren for the very end of their last game.
The competition, however, only picks up from here.