Rangers Injury Report and Trade Info as Offseason Begins

Keith Yandle (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The New York Rangers emptied out their lockers yesterday and the laundry list of those injured was given to the media.

Besides Captain Ryan McDonagh playing Games 5-7 on a broken bone in his foot, fellow defensemen Marc Staal, Keith Yandle and Dan Girardi were also playing injured.

Staal had a hairline fracture in his ankle, Yandle had a sprained AC joint in his shoulder and Girardi had a Grade 1 MCL sprain in his knee.

The full extent of the Mats Zuccarello injury was brought to light today. Mats, who was struck in the head by a Ryan McDonagh slap shot during Game 5 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden, was hurt much more than we thought. He suffered a hairline fracture, developed blood in the brain and a brain contusion. He was unable to speak or move his arm for a few days after the injury. He has been seeing a speech therapist, so he can learn how to speak properly.

Mats said yesterday that he is still seeing the speech therapist and is feeling much better.

It is needless to say that he was scared while he lay in the hospital, but visits from Derick Brassard and others liven up his spirits. And to a man, the Rangers commented that when Zuccarello accompanied them on the road trips and came to the games, he was able to lift them as well.

The doctors, the team and Zuccarello all expect a complete recovery from this injury, and he is determined to be at training camp when it opens.

Also today, Glen Sather got the ball rolling by trading 21-year old defenseman Daniel Walcott to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 7^th round pick in this year’s NHL Draft.

Walcott had seven goals and a total of 41 points in 54 games played for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the (QMJHL) Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He played one game for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) after signing an amateur tryout agreement. He is unsigned for the upcoming 2015-16 season.

This pick was actually the NY Rangers’ own 7^th round pick that they sent to Tampa in the March 2014 deal that swapped Captains between Tampa and New York. Ryan Callahan went to Tampa and Marty St. Louis to the Rangers.