Rangers Lose Lundqvist Indefinitely

The New York Rangers are holding on to a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture at the moment and now they will be riding a roller coaster of emotions, now that they have learned that their number one goalie will be out for at least the next three weeks, with the certain possibility of more time missed.

The diagnosis on the stalwart Swede is that he'll be missing time with a vascular injury, unclear of the nature of the injury, but by the look of a traumatic vascular injury, by definition, it doesn't sound very good.  Lundqvist was thought to have been struck by a shot in the throat, which led to the injury, but there has been no confirmation on this bit of speculation, but does certainly seem plausible, given his position.

The team has said in a release, that Lundqvist is still seeing more doctors and specialists to make sure they do everything they can and everything correctly, to get him back into 100% fitness again.

There is no question that the 32-year old Swede will leave a big void to fill this season, as he has made 39 appearances, won 25 games and 5 of them by shutout, also adding an assist for a 61-point season, to date.  This ranks him 7th overall in pool scoring, through Friday's action, but a few weeks (or more) on the shelf, will surely see to a significant drop in his season's value.

Brenda & Seward were charging up the standings, having been in 23rd place in Week Three, 22nd place in Week Eight and have since moved up to 10th place, only 40 points out of the money.  The consistency of Lundqvist and the absence of that should pretty well sink the hopes of the pool's second duo.

The duo is also one of the last two teams a part of the unofficial goalie win survivor pool, stuck in a battle with Kristy & Don for the honour.  Brenda & Seward are now left with Edmonton's Ben Scrivens, up against Anaheim's Frederik Andersen and Nashville's Pekka Rinne.

In Lundqvist's place, Cam Talbot will be the number one guy going forward, who has been a reasonable back-up, picking up 5 wins in 12 appearances this season.  This week, Brian has picked up the newly-minted starter in the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft and if the Rangers play well in front of him, Brian may get some movement up the standings from the crease.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.