New York Rangers: More Chris Kreider craziness

Chris Kreider suffered an upper body injury that looked an awful lot like a head injury.  According to the New York Rangers he is okay, but the near disaster released a new flood of Kreider speculation.

The entire New York Rangers organization and fanbase felt their hearts skip a beat when Mika Zibanejad’s knee made contact with Chris Kreider’s head. Kreider went down after the second period collision and had to be helped to the locker room and never returned to the game.

After the game David Quinn downplayed the injury and ruled out a concussion and indicated that Kreider won’t be out long.

Quinn called the injury  “day to day, upper body.”  Asked if he was concerned his answer was “As of right now, no.”

Asked if it was a concussion, he responded. “No, don’t believe so…it’s an upper body, we don’t think it’s anything long term.  it’s surprising after you look at it.  It looked tough but he’s already feeling better.”

Being suspicious of any reporting about injuries in the NHL, it will be worth monitoring the situation.  Don’t forget,  Mika Zibanejad missed a month with what was originally called a”day to day” injury.

What we do know is that Phil De Giuseppe was called up from Hartford Sunday, ostensibly to provide some forward depth if Kreider misses any time.  Hmmm.

Considering trade deadline implications, there is no way that anyone on the Rangers would even hint that the injury could be more serious.  Considering the importance of the next few games to the Blueshirts’ playoff hopes, if Kreider is out for any period of time, either the injury is more serious than described or they are playing it safe with their greatest trade chip.

To trade or not to trade

Of course, Kreider played a crucial role in the only goal of the game.  It was a rebound of his shot that Zibanejad was able to poke through Jonathan Bernier’s pads into the net.   That goal and his absence the rest of the game just reinforced his impact on the lineup.

There’s no denying that Kreider has been hotter than a pistol.  In the last 22 games he has scored 12 goals and added 10 assists, a point-a-game pace.

There’s also no denying that over the first 28 games of the season he had six goals and 13 points.

It’s exactly that kind of inconsistency that drives fans nuts and it’s the scoring streak he has been on that has NHL general managers licking their chops at the option of renting him for a playoff run.