It’s that time of year when the laundry list of injuries players have dealt with comes out.
The Rangers are no different from any other NHL team in this regard.
Ryan Strom, who may have spoken at his last press conference as Ranger moving to unrestricted free agency this summer, revealed he’s been battling a pelvic injury since the second half of the regular season. He will find out whether he needs surgery on Tuesday, but he doesn’t think he will be in rehab early next season.
It was clear that Strom was not 100 percent during the playoffs. And during the warm-up before the Rangers’ final season-ending loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Lightning, Strom went on and off the ice before following suit. He ultimately could not finish the game and was returned to the locker room after the second period.
“Yeah, no, he wasn’t like that – I mean, he gave us enough,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said on whether it was the right decision to play an injured Strom. “But he couldn’t finish the game. I don’t know. He certainly didn’t hurt us. But he wasn’t Ryan Strom, but he wasn’t alone.”
Barkley Goodrow also confirmed reports that he fractured his ankle in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Penguins. He was sidelined for the next 11 playoff games before returning in Game 5 of the second round against the Hurricanes.
“Something obviously couldn’t play out, had to sit out for a couple of weeks,” he said. “It sucks when you’re watching a team battling it out in the playoffs, so obviously that’s the time of year you want to play.”
The utility forward actually blocked a shot with the same ankle during the Eastern Conference final series against his former team, the Lightning. He said that it did not hurt his ankle again.
“But it didn’t feel good,” said Goodrow, smiling. “It couldn’t have hit one spot directly. It hurt for a while, but didn’t do much damage.”
Additionally, Ryan Lindgren stated that he suffered an ankle injury in the last regular season game against the Capitals. The 24-year-old defenseman appeared to have collided in various other ways during the playoffs, but clarified that his ankle injury was what he was dealing with.