Rangers D Kevin Klein out 2-3 weeks with strained oblique
The New York Rangers picked up another injury to a highly-utilized player this week. Kevin Klein is expected to miss two to three weeks after sustaining a strained oblique muscle.
By
Chris Peters
•
1 min read
The New York Rangers had been pretty healthy for most of the season until the last week. After the club lost Derek Stepan for four to six weeks with broken ribs, they’ll now be short defenseman Kevin Klein. The veteran blueliner sustained a strained oblique muscle in the team’s 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night and is expected to be out two to three weeks.
Klein has been a solid presence on the Rangers blue line, averaging 20-plus minutes a night. He also has six points through 25 games of action.
The Rangers retained the top spot in the Metropolitan Division with their win Monday, but it’s been a rough week for the club. They had lost three straight prior to halting the streak against the Hurricanes and their possession numbers leave little to be desired. Now they’ll have another hole to plug in their lineup.
Klein is part of the Rangers penalty kill, which has been one of the team’s strengths this season. He is also among the club’s most physical defensemen and tends to block a lot of shots. He also hasn’t been getting shelled in the possession game as much as some of New York’s other blueliners are.
Those muscle strains can be tricky injuries, but if the team allows Klein the time to rest up, he should be able to get back to action on the plotted timeline. Replacing him won’t be easy in the interim, however. The team has been rotating Dan Boyle and Dylan McIlrath some as the team’s sixth defenseman, but they'd probably still prefer an extra defenseman.
They have an interesting recall option in former first-round pick Brady Skjei, who has eight points in the American Hockey League. He’s another big body and a high-end skater, but he’s still in just his first full season of professional hockey. If they’d rather let him marinate some more in the minors, they have Chris Summers, who has NHL experience, and there’s also Mathew Bodie, who had 32 points in the AHL last season, and was pushing for a roster spot in camp.
