The New York Rangers will be without Adam Sýkora for four to five months because of a lower-body injury.
The news broke Wednesday morning. Nasty timing, too, with the regular season opener in Boston less than a week out.
This one hurts more than a typical depth injury. The 22-year-old winger finally got his NHL look last season and produced 3 goals and 4 points in 11 games with the Rangers.
Small sample? Sure. But for a second-round pick who'd spent three straight winters riding buses in the AHL, it was the first real sign his game could travel.
New York grabbed the Piestany native 63rd overall in 2022. The development curve since then has been slow and grinding, never a straight line.
The 2024-25 season was flat-out rough, with a minus-23 rating across 71 games in Hartford. He answered with 12 goals and 29 points in 62 games with the Wolf Pack last year.
Sýkora's contract year just took a brutal hit
That's the part nobody wants to say out loud. He carries an $881,666 cap hit through 2026-27, and restricted free agency comes right after.
A four-to-five month timeline swallows the stretch of the season where a player on that kind of deal builds his case. Do the math and he's looking at late January, maybe late February.
It's like finally getting the call for the job you've chased for three years, then having your car die in the parking lot on day one.
Mike Sullivan now loses a cheap left-shot option before he ever had to make a call on him. So who grabs that opening?
Camp hasn't offered much clarity. The Rangers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Islanders at home Tuesday night and sit 0-2-0 in preseason play.
The Devils come to town Thursday night. Every depth forward still fighting for a job in camp just saw his odds tick up a notch.
Blunt truth? The Rangers will absorb this far easier than the player will.
Chris Drury's big money sits with names like Igor Shesterkin at $11,567,857. A depth winger's rehab won't keep anyone in the front office up at night.
And when the winger is finally cleared, the lineup won't be holding a seat for him.
-
Whoever claims that spot in October gets months to lock it down. Sýkora heads toward restricted free agency with only the stretch run left to make his case.
Should the Rangers hand Adam Sýkora a new deal next summer even if he only plays the stretch run?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Maple Leafs player shows up to camp out of shape and gets called out publicly by Jim Hiller
