Ryan Lindgren’s Injury Could Spell Doom for the Rangers

Ryan Lindgren lays a hit on Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron

When it comes to Ryan Lindgren, his actions often get overshadowed by the incredible Adam Fox. Fox, a Norris trophy winner and a star defenseman in the league, definitely deserves the attention he gets. But the fact of the matter is this: he couldn’t do what he does now without the support of his trustworthy LD Lindgren.

Ryan Lindgren has been the glue that holds the Rangers together ever since he was acquired in the Rick Nash deal. It’s not hard to see why – he consistently makes a total effort to stop the puck from going into the net, whether it is the regular season or the playoffs. The Rangers are worse when Lindgren is out of the lineup, and I don’t think you’ll find much contention on that issue.

On Saturday afternoon, when the Capitals and the Rangers played, Lindgren was hit hard into the boards by Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. There was no malice in the play, but Lindgren went into the boards awkwardly and came out of the play slumped over. There will be no speculation on the injury, but suffice it to say it did not look good for the Rangers. For the rest of the game, you could feel his absence heavily.

Simply put, the Rangers are better with him in the lineup. With Lindgren, they’re 146-80-25 in 251 games. Without him, they’re 35-48 in 98 games.

While Lindgren doesn’t produce much offensively, he makes up for it in spades with his tremendous defensive play. Lindgren has been anchoring the blue line ever since he was put with Fox, and he’s one of the more underrated defensive defensemen in the league. He repeatedly makes those defensive plays to knock attackers off of the puck or stop them from entering the zone. He forces players to work to the outside to get a shot and is not afraid to throw his body in front of the net to prevent a goal. Every team wishes they had a Ryan Lindgren.

When it comes to analytics, they are no different. His defensive WAR is almost always at the top of the league, and he excels when it comes to getting the puck out of the zone; in fact, this year, per JFresh’s Microstat Player Cards, he is in the 100% percentile for exit success rate. That means he’s better than nearly all players in the league at exiting the zone. That’s something you don’t easily replace.

If Lindgren is out long-term, that would be disastrous for the Rangers. They immediately get worse, and unless Ben Harpur or Zac Jones can reach another level in play (perhaps Jones can), Fox is left without a trustworthy partner. Even further, if the addition of Patrick Kane works out, then the Rangers will be defensively worse than they started out this week. Time will tell if Lindgren is only out short or long term, but all Rangers fans should be concerned about that.

In this week's episode we discuss the Gavrikov signing, K’Miller trade, NYR’s outlook and more.How to support us and our sponsors:Columbia Sports ApparelESPN+ SubscriptionFanaticsDraft Kings – CODE ITRThanks for listening! Please rate and review our show on your favorite listening platform. Check out our partner's website at www.insidetherink.com for all your latest hockey news.
  1. A Key Day on Broadway
  2. Don't Cry-der Because It's Over
  3. Can the Rangers Cop Robo?
  4. Guest Will Wright : 1st Pick this Year or Next?
  5. Fortune Telling w/ Joe Fortunato

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

NHL Game Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Detroit Red Wings with Line Combinations 12/21/2024

Opinion: The Red Wings are Closer than You Think

By the time it was over, the 2023-24 season gave little hope to Red Wings fans. Montreal, Columbus and Ottawa all passed them in points this season, both Ottawa and Montreal broke the playoff barrier and ended their droughts. Fans and media alike deemed this offseason as one where the Red Wings needed to make […]

Read More
Ben Scrivens of the Edmonton Oilers

Ghosts Of Oilers Past: Ben Scrivens

With goaltending becoming a more humongous topic among Oilers fans than it already was prior to this season, why not have some fun and reminisce about one of the very few good highlights during the Decade of Darkness? The most historic performance by a goalie in the regular season happened on a team that, at […]

Read More
Utah Mammoth

Utah Mammoth 2025-26 Games To Watch

Year two of the Utah hockey experience begins in mere months, and the schedule is full of games from Central Division faceoffs to meetings with back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions and even rebuilding Eastern Conference contenders. NOV. 12th – vs Buffalo Sabres Easily able to be described as the biggest offseason move General Manager Bill Armstrong […]

Read More

Notifications

Error: Episode unavailable - Open in a new tab