With the New York Rangers season about to resume after a long break the team made a roster move, recalling Alexandar Georgiev and Boo Nieves from Hartford.
The New York Rangers had sent Georgiev, Nieves and Ryan Lindgren to Hartford to get some playing time while the NHL club was on hiatus. With Kevin Hayes and Neal Pionk returning from injury, it appears that Ryan Lindgren’s brief tenure on Broadway is over.
The Wolf Pack played three games during the Rangers “vacation,” losing all three. Alexandar Georgiev didn’t have a good week. In his first game, a 7-4 loss to Springfield, he allowed six goals on 35 shots.
He didn’t play in the Pack’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Binghamton Devils Friday. His final start was on Saturday night in a 5-2 loss to Charlotte. Georgiev was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots. The team hasn’t played well in front of Georgiev all season as his record in Hartford is 2-9-0. Teammate Steven Fogarty had this to say after the loss to Springfield: “It’s unfair to ,” Fogarty said. “He comes down here, and when you play like that it’s not fair to him. And he shouldn’t hang his head because he gives us a chance every night, and it’s on the players to be better in front of him.”
When play resumes on Tuesday, the Rangers have three games in five days so Georgiev should see some action, though Henrik Lundqvist is playing really well and is coming off an outstanding performance at the All-Star weekend.
As for Nieves, he notched one assist in the overtime loss to Binghamton. Lindgren didn’t get on the scoresheet, but did take roughing penalties in two of the games.
What about Lindgren?
Ryan Lindgren had shown a lot of promise in his brief stay on Broadway and some hoped that he would stay up after the All-Star break, but it appears he is a victim of numbers. With Neal Pionk ready to return from his lower body injury the team will be carrying seven defenseman (Fredrik Claesson is still out with a shoulder injury). Brendan Smith is a lock to be watching the Philadelphia game and Lindgren won’t supplant one of the current Rangers, so better for him to be playing than watching games with Smith.
The big question is what coach David Quinn will do with his defensive combinations. In Pionk’s absence he had teamed his regular partner, Marc Staal, with Tony DeAngelo and the pair had instant chemistry. With Pionk returning, will he be paired again with Staal and if so, that mean Tony DeAngelo will be playing with Kevin Shattenkirk. It’s worth noting that Shattenkirk had two of his better games with Lindgren as his defense partner. It’s a given that Brady Skjei will continue to be paired with Adam McQuaid.
With the trade deadline less than a month away, there should be numerous roster moves ahead. If anything, his three game stint in the NHL proved that Ryan Lindgren will be back.