TARRYTOWN - Ryan Lindgren admirably stood up for his teammate, but he paid a dear price.
The Rangers are expecting their top-pair defenseman to miss "at least a few weeks," according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who spoke to lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, on the condition of anonymity. The team is calling it an upper-body injury, and while it's unconfirmed if it stemmed directly from a first-period fight with Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield during Tuesday's 6-4 preseason win at Madison Square Garden, Lindgren appeared bloodied and dazed following an uppercut punch that ended the scrap and did not return to the game.
"That's not good news," head coach Peter Laviolette said following Wednesday's practice at the MSG Training Center. "He's an important piece to our team, our core, our leadership group. The way he plays the game on the ice, he’s an important part. Those pieces are hard to replace."
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He sought out the fight after Mayfield collided with Rangers center Filip Chytil at the 5:57 mark of the first period, which left the latter writhing on the ice in pain. Chytil avoided serious injury and was able to return later in the period, but by then the damage had been done to Lindgren.
"I don't want to lose players," Laviolette said when asked if he was okay with Lindgren dropping the gloves in that spot. "Nobody wants to lose players. It's never okay."
The Blueshirts were also missing Artemi Panarin from Wednesday's practice after the star forward exited Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury, but there seems to be less concern on that front. The team is calling him day-to-day, with Laviolette responding, "I hope so," when asked if Panarin will dress for any more preseason games prior to the Oct. 9 regular-season opener in Pittsburgh.
Sorting through replacements
Meanwhile, a roster that appeared essentially suddenly has an opening.
"It's training camp right now, so everybody's an option," Laviolette said of filling Lindgren's void in the lineup. "Even when it's not training camp, players in Hartford are doing what they need to do to be the guy that gets their name mentioned when we do need to fill a hole or replace a player. There are a lot of guys that are still working to try and show that they can fill that spot."
The Rangers began the process of sorting through possible replacements Wednesday, with Connor Mackey skating in the vacant top-pair spot next to Adam Fox. They also notably had veteran Chad Ruhwedel, who had been considered the favorite for the seventh-defenseman job, working on his off-hand side. He's right-handed, but they'll need someone to fill in for Lindgren on the left.
Ben Harpur, who practiced in the earlier session with many of the non-NHL players in camp, is another lefty to watch in the renewed competition. And a sleeper candidate is prospect Victor Mancini. The 2022 fifth-round pick has come on strong at this camp and drawn praise from Laviolette, who had the 22-year-old working with the main NHL group Wednesday.
"He’s a big guy that can move," said Laviolette, who noted that the right-handed Mancini has some experience on the left. "He's got an escape-ability on the back end, where he can get himself out of a little bit of trouble, still maintain possession of the puck and make a good first pass. He's a big guy, and I wouldn't say that he leads with physicality, but he can play with his size and his physicality – box people out of the net, tie things up and be heavy in the battles and corners. The skating is good, too. He can come up to compete and then jump in offensively, as well."
While Harpur, Mackey, Mancini and Ruhwedel vie for a place in the D corps' top six, Lindgren's injury should also mean increased ice time for Zac Jones. The 23-year-old, who scored a pair of third-period goals Tuesday, was expected to move into a starting role on the bottom pair but now may have to play further up in the lineup.
Lindgren has been a staple for the Rangers since 2019-20, with 333 career regular-season games played and another 43 in the playoffs. The 26-year-old signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract in July and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano .
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rangers lose injured defenseman Ryan Lindgren for 'at least a few weeks'
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