Less than two weeks since two forwards returned from injured reserve, the Rangers are back in the same position — but better equipped to handle it.
Kaapo Kakko is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury he suffered against the Red Wings on Saturday, in just his fourth game since a suspected wrist injury kept him out for nearly 2 ¹/₂ months. The game before Kakko returned, Tyler Motte went down with what the Rangers said was a “significant” upper-body injury, which will sideline the trade-deadline acquisition for at least the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs.
With the postseason steadily approaching, not having a fully healthy lineup is an obstacle. However, the Rangers have been relatively lucky in regards to injuries and losing players to COVID-19 this season.
“Really, we’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries this year compared to some of the other teams,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after practice on Monday. “You got a guy here and a guy there. Besides Sammy Blais [season-ending ACL tear], obviously, and Kaapo was out for quite a while, but for the most part we’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries. We’ve got a lot of guys around. The only tough part about this one is Kaapo was playing really well. He just got back from missing eight weeks. He had four games there and in his last game [on Wednesday in Philadelphia], he had two goals and played really good, so it’s definitely disappointing for him.
“It’s not long term, we fully expect him to be back and hopefully play maybe two or three of the last games. We expect him for playoffs.”
The Rangers may be down two forwards again, but the trade-deadline haul lessens the blow. Kakko is also expected to be ready by the first round of the playoffs in May. While Motte could be unavailable, the other additions of Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp have effectively filled out the Rangers lineup.
“That’s why you add at the deadline,” Copp said before facing his former team, the Jets, at the Garden on Tuesday. “Everyone has some sort of banged-up issue right now across the league. Everyone’s got guys that are hurt. It definitely sucks losing some guys, but I feel like we’re very capable. We’ve got 15, 16, 17 forwards that can hop in any time.
“We feel comfortable with the depth and we feel like the team has had that next-man-up mentality all year, just from the outsider’s perspective early on. I think we’re pretty mentally tough about that situation.”
Copp, who has five goals and eight assists in 13 games with the Rangers, has been president and general manager Chris Drury’s most impactful acquisition. He’s seized what would’ve been Kakko’s spot on the right wing of the second line next to Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.
The pending unrestricted free agent noted when he first got to New York that he thought last season was when he took a jump in his game and overall production, referring to the career-high 15 goals and 24 assists he dished in 55 games with the Jets in 2020-21.
Part of that stemmed from the confidence he gained from receiving more time on the power play and in the top six, which is where Copp has played in all but one game with the Rangers so far.
“Yes and no,” Copp said when asked if his transition has gone over quicker than expected. “Some of the success has obviously been very good, production-wise especially. But at the same time, I feel like my game can kind of play with whoever, in any situation and be successful and make the guys around me better. So I feel like that’s kind of what’s been my calling card in my career and how I play the game. I think that’s kind of shown so far. In Winnipeg, I changed lines almost every game.
“Playing with new guys isn’t necessarily a new thing for me. I think that [comfort] in that role has led to some success here for sure.”
