A massive blow to the Rangers' playoff hopes, as the team announced that Ryan Callahan has suffered a broken ankle and his participation at any point during the push for the playoffs and into the playoffs are now in severe doubt. Callahan reportedly blocked a shot from the Bruins' Zdeno Chara on Monday night and the tests on Tuesday morning confirmed the bad news. Callahan is now considered to be out indefinitely.
Of course, the Rangers are going to miss his scoring, 23 goals and 25 assists in 60 games during the 2011 season won't score themselves in the playoffs, so that is a huge hole to fill. Callahan also brings those intangibles to a team, like presence, physical play and determination, which is felt throughout a line-up and can really energize a team when they are down. That might be the toughest thing to replace, especially in the first round of the playoffs.
Callahan belongs to one of the hotter teams in the draft, as we near the end of the season, as Wes M. has found his way into the top 10, thanks in part to the effort put into his first waiver draft pick up of the season. A loss of a player this important will likely put a pretty good hit on Wes trying to make it into 8th spot this week, since he is 11 points back.I think the real hit will be in the playoff pool, as Callahan is a very attractive option in Box 16 this time around. If you think that the Rangers are a Eastern Conference Final contender or you're not keen on Nathan Horton or Daniel Briere, Callahan wasn't a bad alternative.
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