Rangers Injury Updates: Buchnevich, Nash, Zibanejad, Staal
The New York Rangers announced that they have assigned left winger Pavel Buchnevich to Hartford of the AHL. Buchnevich has been out of the lineup for nearly two months due to back spasms.
The 21 year old rookie made a sizable impact early on this season, recording four goals and four assists in ten games before getting injured. While this technically isn’t an injury conditioning stint as he is waiver exempt, it effectively will work as one as he’s going down to play his way back into game shape.
Buchnevich is expected to play tonight for the Wolf Pack and head coach Alain Vigneault said they will monitor his progress on a game-by-game basis and go from there, per the teams’ Twitter account.
Vigneault also provided some updates on several other injured Rangers (all Twitter links):
- Left winger Rick Nash is close but will not suit up tomorrow. He has been out since December 19th with another groin injury. Vigneault hopes that the ‘bye week’ which for the Rangers runs from January 7th to the 12th will be enough to get him back to 100%.
- Center Mika Zibanejad skated this morning and felt really good afterwards. He has been out of the lineup since late November due to a broken fibula. There’s still no timetable for his return.
- Defenseman Marc Staal remains day-to-day with an upper body sustained on Tuesday against Buffalo. He’s not expected to play tomorrow in Columbus.
Injury Updates: Sharp, Smith, Penguins, Buchnevich
Stars left winger Patrick Sharp was participating in full practices prior to the holiday break, reports Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. He had a chance to play in their last game on Friday but head coach Lindy Ruff said that the team does not want to rush him back:
“Right now, it’s not in the conversation. With Patrick, we really want to be sure this time around. I’ve liked the way he’s skating in practice, I like where he is when it comes to energy. And, really, his body mannerism now is so much better, which I think those are all good signs. He’ll know when he’s ready. He’ll tell us when he thinks he’s ready.”
Sharp has played just 11 games this year because of multiple concussions, picking up just a goal and an assist. Last season, he was fifth in team scoring with 55 points (20-35-55) in 76 games and his return would go a long way towards lengthening out their lineup. Even if Sharp isn’t ready to go when Dallas plays tomorrow in Arizona, it sounds like he is close to returning.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- The Red Wings hope to have defenseman Brendan Smith in the lineup tomorrow night, writes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Smith has been out for the last month with a sprained MCL and has four points in 20 games this season while logging just over 18 minutes per night in ice time. The good news stops there for Detroit though as fellow blueliner Mike Green as well as forwards Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader are expected to miss at least another week.
- Pittsburgh defensemen Kris Letang (lower body) and Trevor Daley (upper body) as well as right winger Tom Kuhnhackl (lower body) all remain week-to-week and aren’t expected to be available this week, notes Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. After playing three games this week, the Penguins will be off until January 8th so the team could ere on the side of caution and hold them back to make sure they’re fully ready to return after their long layoff.
- Rangers rookie left winger Pavel Buchnevich (back) skated with the team in a non-contact jersey before their last game in advance of the holiday break, notes Newsday’s Steve Zipay. While he’s still not ready to return, the fact he is back on the ice is a positive after being shut down in early December when he suffered a setback in his recovery. Buchnevich has four goals and four assists in ten games this year and has been out of the lineup since mid-November.
Rangers Notes: Nieves, Buchnevich, Injuries
It didn’t last long, but for Cristoval Nieves his first taste of the NHL was probably an exciting one. The hometown kid who was called up from the AHL on Monday was sent back to Hartford today, according to Steve Zipay of Newsday. Nieves played on Tuesday because of a rash of injuries that hit the Rangers, getting just under 12 minutes of icetime in a 7-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Nieves will head back down to the AHL where he has six points in thirteen games. The former second-round pick will try to make his way back to the big leagues now that he has a taste of NHL game action.
- Pavel Buchnevich, one of the injured players who allowed for Nieves’ callup, will skate today according to Zipay but is still unlikely to play Friday against the Blue Jackets. The 21-year old has suffered from back spasms all year, only skating in 10 games thus far. Off to a blistering start in his rookie season, the Russian forward had already put up 8 points this season.
- Kevin Hayes and Derek Stepan, both banged up on Tuesday should be ready for the Blue Jackets. Hayes scored twice in the win, adding to his impressive point total of 16. Hayes is on pace to blow by last year’s of 14 goals, and the Rangers need him to. At just 24, perhaps he’s developing into something more than a secondary scoring option.
Rangers Notes: Kreider, Hayes, Injuries
After an early playoff exit last year, the Rangers have put an extra emphasis on speed this season, writes Allan Kreda of the New York Times. Not only did they add fast skating forwards in Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri, and Mika Zibanejad, they’ve also encouraged their blueline to play a faster game as well. While their speed up front has been noticeable, head coach Alain Vigneault has been pleased with its effects on their back end:
“What I like is that we’re using it well defensively. We haven’t given up as many shots and scoring chances. That has permitted us to retrieve the puck quicker and put the speed on display and counterattack to where hopefully it’s more fun: the other team’s end.”
One player who has benefitted from the focus on playing faster is Chris Kreider, who is off to the best start of his career with three goals and four assists in the first four games of the season. Kreider attributes his fast start to being eliminated so quickly in the postseason last year as that gave him more time to train over the summer and his combination of speed and size has been evident in the early going this season. So far, he’s giving the Rangers a strong early return on a four year, $18.5MM deal signed late in July.
[Related: Rangers Depth Chart]
Other Rangers news and notes:
- Center Kevin Hayes is also benefitting from playing quicker as a result of dropping “a pretty good amount of weight” over the summer, notes Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. After taking a step back during his sophomore campaign last year, Vigneault has boosted Hayes’ ice time by over two minutes per game early on while trusting him to take some key faceoffs. Hayes has responded by winning 50% of his draws so far; by comparison, he won only 36% last season.
- Rookie winger Pavel Buchnevich is expected to miss at least the next two games due to back spasms, reports Newsday’s Steve Zipay. As for defenseman Dan Girardi, there’s a chance he plays in one of New York’s games this weekend but won’t suit up in both contests. He has missed the last two games with a groin issue.