With rumors swirling, the New York Rangers took a major blow Monday morning with injuries to Pavel Buchnevich and Igor Shesterkin.
The New York Rangers will be without Igor Shesterkin after he sustained an injury in a car accident Sunday night. Team president John Davidson announced the news Monday morning with the additional update that Pavel Buchnevich was also involved in the accident but was not seriously injured.
Shesterkin was driving when a car made a U-turn that led to a collision where the airbags would deploy. Both players were wearing seat belts and were brought to NY Presbyterian.
On the injury front, Shesterkin suffered a non-displaced rib fracture and will be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks. Buchnevich was shaken up from the accident and is considered day-to-day.
Over the last month, Shesterkin established himself as the Rangers’ No. 1 goalie in an impossible three goaltender rotation. While helping New York come to within four points of a playoff spot, he’s gone 9-1-0 in his first 10 career games posting a ridiculous .940 save percentage and a sparkling 2.23 goals-against-average.
The injury means New York will not shop Alexandar Georgiev or Henrik Lundqvist prior to the NHL trade deadline Monday. Georgiev will most likely get a bulk of the work considering Lundqvist has appeared in just three games in the month of February.
Buchnevich, on the other hand, just started to find his game playing alongside Mika Zibanejad and the newly extended Chris Kreider. While his absence isn’t expected to be long-term, it will still serve as a blow for a team looking to make a playoff push.
Unless New York makes a move for another forward Monday, expect Greg McKegg to replace Buchnevich in the lineup Tuesday against the New York Islanders.