The Kaapo Kakko injury is now week to week, instead of the day to day timeframe he was given over the weekend. Filip Chytil is day to day after leaving Saturday night’s game.
Kaapo Kakko is “week to week,” per Gallant. Filip Chytil is “day to day.” #NYR
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) January 24, 2022
This is not good news, as the Rangers were already thin at forward, and are going to be without possibly their best play driver. There are no call ups coming, at least it doesn’t appear that way. The Rangers do have 12 forwards with both Greg McKegg and Morgan Barron, but it doesn’t look like Barron will play tonight.
It sounds like Gallant is giving serious consideration to playing with 11 forwards and 7 D tonight. He hinted at one of the defenseman being "banged up" and said he liked the way it worked against Arizona with Rooney rotating between the third and fourth lines. #NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) January 24, 2022
Going 11F/7D when you have Barron waiting there seems silly. It also seems like Gallant is sending a message to Chris Drury. That message could be multiple things, ranging from “these kids aren’t ready” to “I don’t want to play these kids” to “I need more scorers.” This is a mess, and Drury needs to act fast.
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