Rangers depth winger Adam Edstrom will be unavailable for the next two and a half to three and a half months while recovering from a lower-body injury, the team told Mollie Walker of the New York Post on Tuesday. It’s likely a season-ending absence for Edstrom, although a return during the postseason is possible if the Blueshirts make the cut.
Edstrom already missed Sunday’s win over the Golden Knights with the injury, which he sustained at some point in Saturday’s loss to the Bruins. He left midway through the second period after recording a minus-one rating, one hit, and one giveaway in 4:22 of ice time.
The 24-year-old has established himself as a regular on the Rangers’ fourth line this season, playing in all but one of their 52 games. He hasn’t been a factor offensively with four goals and nine points and averages just 9:16 per game, but the hulking 6’6″, 241-lb winger ranks fourth on the team with 11.92 hits per 60 minutes and ranks second among Rangers forwards with 34 blocks.
His willingness to get involved physically has contributed to good two-way results from the Rangers’ most common iteration of their fourth line this season. In 166 minutes together, the trio of Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Jimmy Vesey have controlled 52.3% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. Their 2.27 xGA/60 is 0.03 short of being the Rangers’ best defensive trio with at least 150 minutes together this season.
His limited minutes mean he’s not a season-altering loss, but he does leave a sizable void in the bottom six. His absence allows Vesey to step back into regular minutes after being scratched for 10 of their last 12 games, prompting the veteran to publicly voice his displeasure with his lack of playing time.
Edstrom is in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. He’s due a qualifying offer of $813,750, although with his everyday role and an increasing salary cap, he has an argument to earn north of $1MM annually on his next deal.
It’s too bad. I’ve found his play to be far better than Rempe, certainly far more disciplined (0:31 PIM/gm vs Rempe’s 2:10 PIM/gm).
Ummm…11.92 hits per game? And he only ranks fourth?
Yep the Rangers are hitting machine they even hit referees, boards and their own guys