Rangers Recall Prospect After Losing Half of Their Defense

Getty

New York Rangers defenseman Erik Gustafsson

With less than a month before the start of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the New York Rangers couldn’t have found a worse time to start piling up injuries all across their defensive corps.

The Rangers announced on Monday morning that defenseman Erik Gustafsson is sidelined with a day-to-day upper-body injury, per the franchise PR account on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Although the exact moment Gustafsson suffered the injury wasn’t pointed out in the brief statement released by the Rangers, it’s believed to have happened in the 4-3 shootout victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday, March 23.

There was an action involving Panthers forward Sam Reinhart and Gustafsson in which the former connected an elbow to the head of the latter, potentially causing the injury, as captured and shared by @DaveyUpper on X.

On Saturday’s win, Gustafsson competed for 19:44 minutes of ice time while appearing in all three regulation periods and then in overtime before the matchup went to the deciding shootout.

This season, Gustafsson has been one of the most valuable players in the defensive corps of the New York Rangers, tallying 6 goals and 24 assists for 30 points through 70 games and only missing one game through Monday, March 25.

Gustafsson wasn’t available for practice on Monday nor addressed the media after the session.

Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, Still Out For Rangers

Adding wood to the Rangers’ medical fire, team captain Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren are also out of the lineup and won’t be available to play on Tuesday, March 26, when New York is scheduled to host the Philadelphia Flyers. Both Trouba and Lindgren are currently sidelined with lower-body injuries.

Entering Tuesday, Trouba has missed 9 games. On Saturday, March 23, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters before the game against the Panthers that Trouba was “on the ice on his own,” labeling that development as “a real positive thing.”

The Rangers gave Trouba a two-to-three-weeks initial recovery time following his injury and Laviolette said it’s looking more like three than two at this point.

Lindgren, who suffered his injury after Trouba went down, was back skating on Monday’s practice albeit with a no-contact jersey, per Vince Mercogliano. The beat reporter shared a short clip of Lindgren skating on the ice while sporting the special gear, adding a comment on the defender’s status that he “seems to be moving fairly well.”

Rangers Recall Still-to-Debut Brandon Scanlin from Hartford

With three defenders down and ruled out for Tuesday’s matchup against the visiting Flyers, the Rangers announced on March 18 that the franchise has called up Brandon Scanlin from affiliate team Hartford of the American Hockey League.

Scanlin has yet to make his professional debut in the NHL. Still, considering the precarious situation of the defensive unit of the Rangers it’s fair to assume he’ll have a chance of making the gameday squad on Tuesday morning and when Laviolette announces his players, and his official debut come game time.

Scanlin, 24, is already an experienced player even though he’s yet to make it to the ice on an actual NHL game. He has 16 points through 57 games with Hartford this season, evenly split into 8 goals and 8 assists.

The Rangers originally signed Scanlin following his tenure at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and then offered and signed him to a two-year extension on February 15.

Antonio Losada covers the NHL for Heavy.com. A veteran sports writer based in Spain, Antonio has covered the NBA, NFL and soccer for over 10 years, with bylines at SB Nation, FanSided, Yahoo Sports, FanGraphs, RotoBaller and more. He has also been nominated for multiple FSWA awards, including Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and DFS Writer of the Year. More about Antonio Losada