Jan 9th: Kreider has undergone successful surgery, and will be reevaluated in six weeks. While the team still lists him as out indefinitely, this gives some hope to the idea that he can return healthy to the Rangers at some point, even if it is next season.
Jan 5th: After revealing a scary diagnosis of a blood clot for New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider recently, the team has announced that he’ll go under the knife for a rib resection and is out indefinitely. It would be dangerous to assume anything about his future before any details are released, but the Rangers will have to plan for life without him for at least the time being.
Kreider was a big part of the Rangers offense, with 22 points through his first 37 games and was coming off his best season as a professional. For a club that has pushed themselves back into the thick of the playoff race, losing a top-six player possibly for the rest of the season is a crushing blow. The Rangers will need to find someone to replace his minutes, either internally or on the trade market.
After today’s bronze medal game, Filip Chytil is due back in the AHL and could be an option, and other youngsters like Pavel Buchnevich and Jimmy Vesey have already been expected to carry a larger load. The Rangers latest game saw Buchnevich play 18:22 in a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, his highest number since the first week of the season.