Can The Rangers Maintain Their Lead In Division Despite Injuries?
The Rangers are off to a hot start to the season and lead the Metropolitan Division with 17 points.
Despite Saturday's 5-4 shoot-out loss to the Minnesota Wild, they still walk away with a point. However, with the loss to Adam Fox and Filip Chytil, can they still maintain their lead in the division?
It's odd we haven't gotten an official announcement yet from the Rangers on when they expect the two injured players to return.
What we do know is the two players are ineligible to return for a certain amount of time.
Filip Chytil was placed on injured reserve on November 3rd. Which means he will be ineligible to return to the team until November 10th.
The Rangers next game after his return would be against the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 12th.
Adam Fox was placed on long term injured reserve the same day. He's ineligible to play for 10 games and 24 days.
So his soonest return is November 29th, against the Detroit Red Wings.
Also note, Igor Shesterkin is currently day-to-day with minor soreness. It's likely he might miss another game or two before he returns. Although he did make an appearance in practice today, he left earlier than anyone there.
If we take the best case scenario that we will have everyone back by November 29th against Detroit, the Rangers next nine games during this stretch will have four opponents currently in the playoff picture.
Division leaders in the Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars, plus four division rivals with the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets, whom we lost 5-3, October 14th.
Final teams to round out the stretch is a rematch with the Minnesota Wild and the Buffalo Sabres, whom we beat 5-1 to open the season. Plus we have Detroit tomorrow.
It's not an easy stretch in the slightest. However, the Rangers haven't been the only team overwhelmed with injuries within the division.
The New Jersey Devils will be without Jack Hughes week-to-week, and the Carolina Hurricanes have lost their starting goaltender Frederik Andersen, indefinitely. So there will be struggles all around.
It'll be a tough test for the Rangers, and for Peter Laviolette, on how he manages to manoeuver this team through this tough stretch.
With nine games, you can walk away with a maximum of 18 points. With the current circumstances, if the team walks away with 12-14 points, I think we will be in great shape and maintain the lead in the division.
| POLL | ||
How many points will the Rangers walk away with in this nine game stretch? | ||
| All 18 points | 6 | 9.2 % |
| 17-12 points | 34 | 52.3 % |
| 11-6 points | 19 | 29.2 % |
| 5-0 points | 6 | 9.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
