The Rangers’ blue line hasn’t been stretched this thin in years. Brendan Smith is in the AHL and the injuries to Steven Kampfer, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan McDonagh, and Marc Staal have forced the Rangers to turn to their reserves. It’s been less than a week since the Blueshirts called up John Gilmour and Neal Pionk from the Hartford Wolf Pack and threw them to the wolves of NHL competition. See what I did there? Yeah, I’m not proud of myself.
It’s important to remember that Gilmour is far from being a kid.