The New York Rangers find themselves in a tough situation as Ryan Lindgren is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
In Tuesday night’s preseason game, Lindgren fought Scott Mayfield in retaliation for his hit on Filip Chytil, and that’s when he supposedly suffered this injury.
Lindgren was doing the right thing standing up for his teammate, but it hurts a little bit extra to lose a player in the preseason.
“I don’t want to lose players,” Peter Laviolette said. “Nobody wants to lose players, it’s never OK. He’s an important piece to our team, our core, our leadership group. The way he plays the game on the ice, he’s an important part. Those pieces are hard to replace.”
Lindgren’s value for the Rangers is severely underrated. He plays a strong defensive game and is the yin to Adam Fox’s yang.
The 26-year-old defenseman is out for at least a few weeks, so it’s unclear if he will be ready to go for the start of the regular season.
By the looks of things, it seems unlikely he’ll be ready for the team’s season opener on Oct. 9 in Pittsburgh.
Laviolette knows what Lindgren brings on a nightly basis, which is why he’s well aware of the predicament the Rangers find themselves in.
“It’s always tough losing players,” Laviolette said. “A guy like Lindy is tough. He plays the game really hard for us, really valuable piece.”
Life without Lindgren will be difficult, but the Rangers will have to learn to live without him for now.