New York Rangers: Ryan Strome out, Greg McKegg in

The New York Rangers have announced that Ryan Strome will not play in tomorrow night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens due to a COVID-19 protocol-related absence. In response this, the Blueshirts have called up Greg McKegg from the AHL.

At this juncture, Strome has only been ruled out for tomorrow night’s game, but no other upcoming ones. It hasn’t been announced if he’s experiencing symptoms from the illness or is asymptomatic. Therefore, we aren’t in a position to estimate when the 28-year-old center will return for the club.

Although we are heading for only game three of the season, it feels like an important one. The Rangers have started the season 0-1-1 and certainly want to get their first win of the year. Thus, Strome not being the lineup is definitely not ideal for the team. He’s one of the Rangers’ top forwards and a strong point-producer. In 56 games last season, he scored 14 goals and had 49 points.

McKegg isn’t being brought up to replace Strome in the lineup, of course. Rather, Filip Chytil will very likely be given the chance to be the second-line center for Saturday’s contest. With this, he would have the chance to play with Kaapo Kakko, but even more notably, superstar Artemi Panarin. With Panarin’s ability to create offense with ease, Chytil should have plenty of chances to get on the scoresheet. In two games so far this season, he has yet to do so.

With Sammy Blais having a day-to-day injury, we can assume McKegg is being called up to play tomorrow. The call-up gives the Rangers 12 healthy forwards. It will be interesting to see where they opt to put him in the lineup. Kevin Rooney could take over as third-line center, with McKegg centering the fourth-line. In theory, the opposite could occur, but that seems less likely.

Nonetheless, it’s a tough blow that Strome has to miss time. The NHL has started off this season with multiple COVID-related cases. Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon had to miss the team’s season opener from the illness. Furthermore, the Seattle Kraken had Calle Jarnkrok, Marcus Johansson, Jared McCann, Jamie Oleksiak and Joonas Donskoi all on the COVID protocol list right before their opener. However, Oleksiak, McCann and Donskoi all were cleared right before it. Time will tell if the Rangers end up having multiple players on it, too.

Nonetheless, tomorrow’s game against the Canadiens has become even more intriguing. Ranger fans should keep a close on what Chytil can do in his larger role. It will also be interesting to see how McKegg performs. He only played five games at the NHL level last season with the Boston Bruins, so at this point of his career, he does not see NHL action all that often.