CHICAGO — Less than a year after suffering a season-ending injury, Adam Edstrom has another injury just 30 games into a new campaign.
The Rangers placed Edstrom on long-term injured reserve Wednesday morning with a lower-body injury, marking his second such injury in the span of 10 months.
It is not the same lower-body injury he sustained on Feb. 1 last season, which sidelined him for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign, per a source.
After continued evaluation and the injury not progressing the way they had hoped, the Blueshirts opted to put their fourth player of the season on LTIR.
Edstrom, who was scratched with “bumps and bruises” in early November, left practice on Dec. 1 to be evaluated for a lower-body injury.
Word is that was the same issue Edstrom is dealing with now.
“He was continuing to be evaluated here over the last few days,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers were blanked 3-0 Wednesday night at United Center. “I think our medical team came to the conclusion that this was the best course of action for him moving forward to try to get him to the point where he’s healthy and he has the opportunity to be at his best when he goes in the lineup.”
The Rangers lost Edstrom last season just as the 6-foot-7 wing started to hit his stride.
His injury ultimately required surgery, which he underwent last season in order to be fully healthy and ready for training camp.
This season has gone a little differently for Edstrom, who served as a healthy scratch on Nov. 18.
In 24 games, the big-bodied Swede has collected two goals and two assists while skating on the fourth line in all but one contest.
Defenseman Urho Vaakanainen served as a healthy scratch for a seventh straight game.
Additionally, Taylor Raddysh was a healthy scratch for the second game in a row after appearing in the previous 30.
“Taylor and I had a discussion about it,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to put guys in the lineup that give us the best chance to win. … I think when Taylor’s at his best, I think he’s strong on the boards, he uses his size and his reach, his physicality, getting in on the forecheck, helping us create momentum, hanging on to pucks in the offensive. … We’re just looking for a little bit more consistency there. Given the circumstance we were at, we felt like it was an opportunity to give Jaro [Chmelar] a look. He’s played extremely well in Hartford.”
Chmelar remained on the right wing of the fourth line in what was his fourth NHL game.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced in his 10th loss of the season.
The Rangers continue to lead the NHL in hits with 813. Leading the Blueshirts is Will Cuylle, who had racked up the fifth most hits in the league (104) entering Wednesday’s game.
Thursday is a scheduled day off for the Rangers, who will return to practice on Friday before they face the Canadiens on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
