New York Rangers: Kevin Shattenkirk to miss 2-4 weeks with shoulder injury
By Steve Paulus
The New York Rangers didn’t lose just a game to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. They also lost defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for 2-4 weeks with a separated shoulder.
If there is a good example of bad karma in the NHL, it is Kevin Shattenkirk. After losing his first season as a New York Ranger to a torn meniscus, he is now on injured reserve with a separated shoulder.
To make matters worse, it was a check from former Ranger J.T. Miller that resulted in Shattenkirk getting injured. The two players came together in the Rangers zone and Shattenkirk hit the boards awkwardly.
Here’s the check that that caused the injury.
By providing a two to four week prognosis for his return, the indication is that it is not a severe separation. If he is out the full four weeks, he will return to action at a very busy time in the Rangers’ schedule, when they play ten games in 18 days in January.
Shattenkirk came to the Rangers with a history of being durable. In the previous six seasons, he failed to play in at least 72 games only once. Since coming to New York, he has missed over one fourth of the schedule. At any rate, Shattenkirk will be able to spend the holidays at home in Westchester.
Defense options
Although the Rangers are on another brief respite in the schedule, it begins to heat up soon. They play eight games in 14 days before the end of the year. They follow that with ten games in the first 19 days of 2019 before their league mandated bye week January 20-26.
Brendan Smith was a healthy scratch on Monday night. Adam McQuaid has been participating in full contact practices with the team so he is another option to replace Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk had been paired solely with Brendan Smith or Fredrik Claesson so the injury will jumble the defense pairings.
The Brady Skjei/Brendan Smith combination has skated in 19 games with the best Corsi of any of Skjei’s pairings. It may be time to try that pair and to try a Tony DeAngelo/Fredrik Claesson twosome.
AHL options
If David Quinn and Jeff Gorton feel that Brendan Smith is not the answer and Adam McQuaid is not ready to return, they could turn to the AHL. John Gilmour leads all Wolf Pack defensemen in scoring with six goals and 11 assists for 17 points in 26 games. With NHL experience, he could be an option to replace Shattenkirk as an offensive defenseman.
Other options with NHL experience include Chris Bigras and Rob O’Gara. There is a trio of rookies who could warrant a look including Brandon Crawley, Libor Hajek and Ryan Lindgren.
Losing an experienced blueliner like Shattenkirk at a time when defense is the team’s biggest issue is not optimal. However, the Ranger have been battling injuries all season and Quinn won’t let them lose focus.