The New York Rangers play the Calgary Flames later tonight, but we have an update on Arthur Kaliyev's status to cover before we get to that. The New York Rangers have announced that the man born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is out for the year and the postseason, should they make it, with an upper-body injury. His first partial season with the Rangers ends, and the Blueshirts now have to decide if they will reinsert Juuso Parssinen.
Kaliyev was claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Kings back in January. He only played 14 games with the Rangers, scoring three times and grabbing one assist for four points. That's underwhelming, but given that there was a prolonged break for the Four Nations and the adjustment period needed to get used to New York after moving from Los Angeles, that could be forgiven. It'll be next season when we get a good indication of what Kaliyev is.
Kaliyev has also spent some time outside looking in as the healthy extra in New York, so assuming he's definitively on this roster next year might be a little premature. Kaliyev has had periods of excellence in a Rangers uniform, but he's recently had a long period of ineffectiveness, which has plagued the Ranger's bottom six. Perhaps this was due to Kaliyev playing through an injury, but the Rangers need more from the Uzbekistan-born American forward.
Kaliyev was the 33rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL entry draft and a projected first-rounder who kept falling. He was expected to go somewhere around the top 20, and the fact he fell to the second day of the draft was shocking at the time. However, his NHL struggles may indicate what NHL general managers saw that may have scared them away. Perhaps there's a way for the Rangers to get more from Kaliyev, but he'll need to improve next year.