The New York Rangers have already hit a bit of a snag in their second preseason game, with first-line defenseman Ryan Lindgren getting injured. He is labeled as having an upper-body injury, which could take "weeks" to come back from.
Now that he is seemingly out of the lineup, how do the defensive pairings change?
Replacing Lindgren?
Here is a projection of what the defensive lines might look like come opening night.
K'Andre Miller | Adam Fox |
|---|---|
Zac Jones | Jacob Trouba |
Chad Ruhwedel | Braden Schneider |
Now that Lindgren is out of the lineup for an unknown duration of time, star defenseman Adam Fox needs a partner to his left. The two have been inseparable for the last couple of seasons.
That said, it is now a next-man-up situation, which means that K’Andre Miller gets promoted to that first left defenseman spot. He brings a much different game than Lindgren, but similar. Both players are left-handed shots, with Miller being a more offensive-minded defender. But, let’s not count out Lindgren’s creativity with the puck as well.
The biggest difference between the two is the lapse of grit and toughness. Not to discredit or belittle Miller’s tolerance for pain, but there is nobody else in the NHL that can endure the punishment that Lindgren faces night in and night out.
The rest of the pairings?
Miller is now up on the first line to replace Lindgren, who steps up to fill the left side of the second defensive pairing, likely with Jacob Trouba. That would be Zac Jones, who has been making a name for himself this training camp and preseason.
And then to complete the last defensive pairing, it would be Braden Schneider on the right side, and Chad Ruhwedel on the left side. This duo could be very solid for the Rangers, even after Lindgren comes back from injury, as one of these two could slide down to the seventh defenseman role and change in and out with Jones on the left side.
Let us also not forget that this is Ryan "The Warrior" Lindgren. With just under two weeks to go until the start of the 2024-25 regular season, this approximation of "weeks" could be resolved before the season even starts. Then all of this shuffling of lines would just go back to the way they were before.