greg mckegg injury

The last forward on the list that played enough games* with the Rangers this season to warrant a report card is Greg McKegg. Signed to be a depth center, the Rangers knew what they were getting in McKegg. He was signed as a 4C, possibly 13F, to round out the bottom six. He was never going to be a big scorer. Just a strong defensive center who could chip in here and there.

*-Phil Di Giuseppe, Micheal Haley, and Julien Gauthier didn’t play enough games.

McKegg wound up putting up 5-4-9 in 53 games. Surprisingly enough, that puts him around Di Giuseppe’s scoring pace (1-3-4 in 20 games). Chipping in ten points from a predominately fourth line role, especially on this team, is an added benefit to his role with the team.

McKegg’s 5-4-9 line is nice, but let’s not confuse it with sustainable offensive production. McKegg didn’t drive offense at all this season. Then again, his most consistent linemates this season were a combination of Brendan Smith (a defenseman), Brett Howden (not good), and Brendan Lemieux (sneaky bad). Defensively, McKegg didn’t move the needle much. He was a net-positive, but barely. That’s about what you get for his role.

McKegg did have some serious valleys in his season long look. It’s interesting that as the Rangers performed better, McKegg performed worse. Yet as the Rangers played worse, McKegg looked better. There isn’t much to it, just interesting.

Overall, McKegg was exactly as advertised for the Rangers. He was a little better than net-neutral defensively. He was a net-negative offensively, but chipped in a little more than expected. Given his linemates, it makes you wonder how he would have looked with a few more NHLers on his line.

Grade: C+

Charts provided by Hockeyviz and chartinghockey.

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