With Chris Kreider out, Rangers coach David Quinn has to find a way to replace him
Head coach David Quinn of the Rangers looks on during the first period against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Credit: Jim McIsaac
David Quinn wouldn’t guess at any kind of timetable for the return of Chris Kreider after the Rangers’ first-line left wing and emotional leader suffered a broken left foot in the first period of Friday’s 5-2 road loss to the Flyers.
But it is safe to say Kreider likely won’t be in the lineup Sunday afternoon when the Rangers host the Flyers at the Garden in the back end of the home-and-home.
The Rangers did not practice Saturday, and did not issue an update on Kreider. Assuming the standard 4-6 week timeline for a broken foot, however, Kreider would likely be out for at least the rest of the regular season, which ends in five weeks.
Kreider, who on Monday had agreed to a seven-year, $45.5 million contract extension with the Rangers just hours before the NHL trade deadline, was struck in the left foot by a shot from Flyer defenseman Philippe Myers with 7:42 left in the first period. He went down immediately, then hobbled off the ice to the bench.
The Rangers have only two non-emergency recalls from the AHL available to them the rest of the season. Teams get a maximum of four non-emergency recalls after the trade deadline, and the Rangers used two of those when they assigned Brett Howden and Julien Gauthier to their Hartford farm team on Monday in paper transactions, then recalled them the same day. The team wanted the two players to be on the Hartford roster in order to make them eligible for the AHL playoffs, in case the Rangers don’t make the NHL playoffs.
With just two moves available to them, the Rangers did not call anyone up from Hartford on Saturday. Greg McKegg, who was a healthy scratch Friday, will re-enter the lineup if there is no recall in time for Sunday’s game.
Who Quinn would put on left wing with Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich is an intriguing question. When Buchnevich missed two games after being shaken up in the same auto accident that sidelined goaltender Igor Shesterkin, Quinn moved third line center Filip Chytil to Buchnevich’s right wing spot on the first line. He could do the same thing again, and move Chytil to the left wing this time, to fill Kreider’s spot.
Or, he could promote Phil DiGiuseppe or Brendan Lemieux from the bottom two lines, or just put Artemi Panarin with Zibanejad to form a potent top line. Of course, doing that would weaken the second line, where Panarin currently plays with Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast.
Should the Rangers decide to call up a player from Hartford, Vinni Lettieri (25 goals, 19 assists) was the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer entering Saturday’s game against Bridgeport, and centers Boo Nieves and Steven Fogarty and left wing Tim Gettinger have been called up already this season. Center Danny O’Regan and 2018 first round pick Vitaly Kravtsov would be possibilities as well.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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