The New York Rangers officially announced that Sammy Blais will miss the next 6-8 months due to a torn ACL.
Surgery is expected in the next few days as they await swelling to come down. Blais, 25, will go on LTIR giving the Rangers an additional $1.5M in cap space ($9,710,189 per CapFriendly).
“I feel for the kid,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after today’s morning skate.
Blais out for the season; Chytil back
The injury to Blais occurred in the third period of the Rangers 4-3 win over the Devils.
Blais and Subban went to the corner to retrieve the puck. The Devils defenseman appeared to stick out his skate causing Blais to go hard into the boards leaving him writhing in pain. Blais needed help off the ice and could not put an ounce of pressure on his right leg.
The news of his loss was somewhat softened by the fact that Filip Chytil will return to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
Chytil, 22, has just three points in 12 games this season.
Barclay Goodrow, who played 3C while Chytil was out will be back on the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. Julien Gauthier will continue to play third line RW.
“I feel horrible for [Blais],” Goodrow said about the loss. “He’s a big part of this team. He’s going to leave a big hole to fill. Hopefully his recovery goes well.”
The Rangers have also recalled Greg McKegg.
Igor Shesterkin will start against the Canadiens.
No Vitali Kravtsov
If anyone was hoping for Vitali Kravtsov and the Rangers to reconcile in order for him to come in and save the day – forget it.
Kravtsov, the 9th overall selection in the 2018 NHL Draft will play out the entire season in the KHL.
There were some initial reports that the Rangers, or any team trading for him would have the right to call him back at any time. Kravtsov’s agent would not provide further clarification on the KHL deal, but it is believed that even if another team acquired him in-season, they would let him finish with Traktor first.
Chris Drury will need to address the RW position at some point.
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