The Rangers will have to make do without Kevin Rooney for at least a week, if not more.
The team placed its bottom-six center on injured reserve Thursday, with coach Gerard Gallant calling him “week-to-week” after sustaining an upper-body injury in Wednesday’s win over the Blues.
“He’s a big loss,” Gallant said. “He’s played well, he kills penalties for us. But it gives somebody else a chance to step in and do the job. He’ll be back sooner than later.”
Players on IR must miss at least seven days, meaning Rooney will be sidelined for at least three games.
At Thursday’s practice, the recently recalled Jonny Brodzinski was skating in Rooney’s spot between Greg McKegg and Ryan Reaves on the fourth line. Barclay Goodrow, who had recently been playing on a line with Rooney and Reaves, was bumped up to the third line alongside Filip Chytil and Julien Gauthier.
“[Rooney] is a big piece of this team,” Goodrow said. “He’s been playing really well, so it’s going to take a few guys to fill in his spot.”
The Rangers will get their latest glimpse of the Devils on Friday, welcoming in the team that has turned into something of an offensive juggernaut of late.
The Devils have scored five or more goals in five of their past eight games, piling up 40 goals overall during that stretch. Jack Hughes missed the first two games of that run, but the former No. 1 pick has recorded five goals and seven assists in his last six games.
“I see a young superstar,” Gallant said. “He’s taking control, he’s playing big minutes on that team and he looks like the real deal. It’s the same as some of the young kids, they make some turnovers, they try to create offense all the time and they make some of those young-kid mistakes. But he’s got a lot of skill, a lot of talent and he’s pretty confident right now from what I’ve seen the last number of games I watched him.”
Kaapo Kakko, whom the Rangers selected with the next pick after Hughes in the 2019 draft, is still “a ways away” from returning from an upper-body injury, according to Gallant.
“It’s going to be another few weeks for sure,” Gallant said.
Kakko last played on Jan. 21. Gallant said the winger could “hopefully” be back “just before” the March 21 trade deadline.
With Rooney going on IR, the Rangers recalled Tim Gettinger from AHL Hartford. … Defenseman Ryan Lindgren did not skate Thursday for what the team said were “maintenance” reasons.