henrik lundqvist

Robert Sabo/NYDN

When the news about Kevin Shattenkirk’s torn meniscus broke, it took a while for the full brunt of the news to digest. The Rangers would now be without a top pairing defenseman in addition to a top line winger (Chris Kreider) for an extended period of time. They weren’t playing well with both of them in the lineup, and, thus far, haven’t looked good with them out of the lineup.

However that’s actually not the worst of it. The management of Shattenkirk’s injury is another in a long list of injuries that the Blueshirts have mismanaged, that have put players’ health at risk. Shattenkirk had his injury from the start of the season, which means the organization knew about it and allowed him to play through the tear with some pain shots. Part of this is on Shatty as well, but this goes beyond this singular case.

Let’s go back to the Mika Zibanejad concussion, which is a serious issue. Zibanejad suffered the concussion on a hit from Darren Helm on November 24. He wasn’t out of the lineup until November 30. He played another two games before sitting out eight games (two and a half weeks). The Blueshirts blamed this on delayed onset of concussion symptoms. But that could be a one-off case, right?

How about two years ago. Dan Girardi is in the middle of one of the worst seasons as a defenseman in recent memory. Even his staunchest supporters are questioning his play. It was discovered in December that he was playing with a cracked kneecap. Alain Vigneault stated it was a matter of pain management for Girardi. However, watching his play, it was much more than that. But hey, that’s on Girardi, right?

What about the life threatening injury to Henrik Lundqvist on January 31, 2015 against Carolina? That’s when he took a puck to the throat in a freak play. Lundqvist stayed in the game. He was at risk of suffering a stroke when he kept playing, something the team should have known. Despite his stubbornness to stay in the game, the club should have taken him out. That’s not even the worst part, because he played a full game two days later before he was finally yanked from the lineup. Even if you want to pin that on Hank, the team doctors should know the potential side effects of something as serious as a puck to the throat.

These are muddy waters that the Rangers are treading with their injury management. You could excuse one or two of these incidents as one-off occurrences. But four? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And the Rangers have a fire with how they deal with significant injuries. It hasn’t burned them yet, but it will at some point.

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