Right wing Kaapo Kakko has been placed on injury reserve following an upper body injury sustained in last night’s win over the Montreal Canadiens. Kakko appeared to injury his shoulder in a collision, and will be unavailable until at least the home game against the Calgary Flames on the 25th.
When asked about the severity of the injury, Gerard Gallant seemed unconcerned about a lengthy absence, and gave the standard ‘Day to Day’ categorization that appears to be the go-to for any injury at this point.
With Kakko out, the Rangers called up Morgan Barron who has a goal in each of Hartford’s first two games, and was amongst the last cuts to the team out of camp. Where Barron will play remains to be seen, but there’s likely to be a number of changes to the line-up with both Kakko and Strome still out.
In other news, disgruntled right-wing Vitali Kravtsov has surfaced in Russia, attending a KHL game less than a week after he fell out with Rangers management over a reassignment to the AHL. The quick return to Russia certainly doesn’t bode well for a quick return to the NHL.