Carson Soucy placed on IR with upper-body injury as Rangers’ blue line takes a hit

Soucy’s injury leaves New York thin on the left side and forces the Rangers to get creative with their top four early in the season.
New York Rangers v Buffalo Sabres
New York Rangers v Buffalo Sabres | Joe Hrycych/GettyImages

Carson Soucy left Saturday's eventual 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins with an upper-body injury. Today we learned he has been placed on IR, and he becomes the second player in as many days to go on the shelf.

Soucy was injured in second period of game vs. Penguins

The Blueshirts' blueliner went awkwardly into the boards after getting tangled up with Rickard Rakell. It appears that Soucy was going to hit the Penguins forward, and he lost his balance, tripped on Rakell's leg before falling head first into the end boards.

Soucy had been averaging 19:20 per game through two games heading into Saturday's game with the Penguins, and was someone Mike Sullivan was leaning on early to start the season. He's the second defender on the left side of the team's depth chart behind Vladislav Gavrikov, and ahead of Urho Vaakanainen.

Next men up for Rangers

With this injury the team dipped into their depth and recalled Connor Mackey from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Mackey has 42 games of NHL experience to his name, three of which came with the Blueshirts. He also has 191 games of AHL experience in which he's posted a line of 16 goals and 71 assists for 89 points. He appears to be the backup option for the Blueshirts.

Matthew Robertson will likely slide into the lineup on the third pair which could lead to Urho Vaakanainen getting bumped up. Robertson has two career NHL games under his belt, and averaged 17:38 per game for the Blueshirts at the end of last season.

The 24-year-old rear guard has 250 AHL games under his belt with the Hartford Wolf Pack, and in that span he tallied 11 goals and 69 assists for 80 points. He stands 6'4" and weights 209 pounds, and was selected 49th overall by New York in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft.

What's next for Blueshirts

The Rangers are back in action today vs. the Washington Capitals. It is the first back-to-back for the team this season, and they will look to pick up where they left off on Saturday vs. the Penguins. After that they return to action on Tuesday vs. the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden.

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