The New York Rangers will be without defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and will need surgery, the team announced on Friday.
Shattenkirk joined the Rangers this summer after signing a four-year, $26.6M free agent contract.
“It’s tough, you know, thinking about this year, you want everything to go perfectly and I think I’ve been trying to battle through this for a lot of reasons and when it came down to it, we talked about it and you have to think about yourself,” Shattenkirk said, according to the New York Post.
”I’ve been worried about a lot more things, trying not to disappoint a lot of people, me included in that, so it’s hard to be leaving the team. It’s never easy to be sidelined.
“But I also feel that what I was putting out onto the ice, I wasn’t given the guys on my team the best I had and that almost makes you feel even worse. You don’t want to be disappointed as a teammate. I think this is the first step to get back to where I am and come back and have a meaningful impact on this team down the stretch.”
“With Kevin, it’s something we’ve known for a while and after playing through it, he felt he had to get it fixed,” said coach Alain Vigneault. “Injuries are part of the NHL. This is an opportunity for Tony to get some ice here and for someone else to help us win some games.”
“When guys are out, it gives more opportunity to different guys. It’s important to have guys who make the most of this,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “You can’t look for any excuse not to play your best or not to find a way to win.”