Barron sent back to AHL; Return of Strome
Strome is ready for action tonight but we are still waiting on Kaapo Kakko’s return
The Rangers made a few moves this afternoon in preparation for their game tonight against the Calgary Flames. Morgan Barron, who had recently been recalled to help fill the hole left by Kakko and Strome, has been reassigned to the Hartford Wolfpack.
UPDATE: Morgan Barron has been assigned to @WolfPackAHL.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 25, 2021
Barron was able to suit up in 2 games for the Rangers but was held off the scoresheet in both contests. In Hartford, he will strive to build off his impressive rookie season and become a bit more acclimated to the pace of professional hockey. I don’t expect this will be the last we see of the young forward this season.
With Barron being demoted to the AHL we can anticipate one of the injured Rangers’ forwards returning to the lineup. It has since been reported that Ryan Strome is scheduled to play tonight.
Ryan Strome in. Julien Gauthier in. Kaapo Kakko still out.
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) October 25, 2021
Igor Shesterkin in net for #NYR
This will be Strome’s second game of the season and it will be interesting to see how this impacts the roster. With the Lafreniére, Chytil, Blais line developing some solid chemistry it would make sense for Gallant to insert Strome right back onto the second line with Panarin and Goodrow or even Gauthier on the right wing.
While Panarin is still finding a way to get things done, he has looked a bit off this season. Often forcing passes or mishandling his zone entries, perhaps the arrival of Strome will help him return to his former status.
Strome is just the second New York Ranger who has been out due to the COVID-19 Protocol. As there hasn’t been much released on how his health was impacted, we can only hope the team has done its due diligence in assuring he is ready to play. The only other instance of a player returning in this scenario is Mika Zibanejad at the beginning of the shortened 2020-21 season. Zibanejad stumbled out of the gate last year and initially stated his struggles were not due to COVID-19, he did however go on to lightly recant that at a future date. The Rangers, nor Strome who is in a contract year, can’t really afford to not hit the ground running.
