New York Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s “fight” with the New York Islanders’ Scott Mayfield on Sept. 24 wasn’t really much of one.
When Lindgren predictably came to teammate Filip Chytil’s defense after Mayfield laid a big open-ice hit on the center during a preseason game at Madison Square Garden, the pair mostly grappled, battling for position via clutched jerseys. Mayfield appeared to land a couple of punches on Lindgren toward the end, but they didn’t seem to catch the 26-year-old flush – a typical result in many fights these days.
Yet the Rangers announced the next day that Lindgren would be sidelined for at least a few weeks with an upper-body injury, presumably incurred in the scrap with the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Mayfield. The loss leaves a large hole in the Blueshirts’ top two defense pairings that’s expected to carry into the start of the regular season, while also depriving top defenseman Adam Fox of his consistent partner.
The generously listed 6-foot, 190-pound Lindgren has often defied injury timelines to return earlier than expected, sometimes much earlier in a show of determination, pain tolerance and grit that endlessly endears him to his Rangers teammates. However, the encounter with Mayfield, noble as it was from one of the game’s true throwbacks, again emphasized a sensitive yet critical subject surrounding Lindgren’s future on Broadway: Lindgren is an average-sized NHL player trying to do a big man’s work – and at some point, that situation is sure to become unsustainable.
Rangers Require More Size and Power on Defense
Lindgren is often portrayed as a smaller guy with a huge heart who has scrapped his way to unexpected NHL success, but it’s probably more accurate to describe him as Zdeno Chara in a much smaller frame. Lindgren’s ferocity stems from his belief that he can dominate physically, playing with little fear as he attempts to play the kind of game usually reserved for huge backliners such as Mayfield.
That, after all, seems to be where the NHL is going. The last two Stanley Cup winners, and four of the last five, boasted giants at the back end, clearing the crease of opposing forwards and putting up walls in front of their goaltenders. While Lindgren’s efforts in doing that bring a significant element of badly-needed toughness to the Rangers’ roster, inspiring his brethren in the process, his battles with bigger men seem sure to be ones that he can’t win forever.
The Minnesota native’s body has taken a pounding, and that’s certain to continue, given his heart-and-soul, all-out style. How much longer can he be effective in taking on the kind of role players like Mayfield do, given the amount of physical sacrifice he has to make to compete in that world?
Underlying metrics suggest that the answer might be not for much longer. Lindgren’s expected goal share dropped from 53.4 in 2022-23 to 45.0 in 2023-24, a precipitous fall. Without Fox, one of the team’s top drivers of possession, Lindgren’s expected goal share was 40.8 last season. Fox’s number without Lindgren was 67.0.
Lindgren always seems to bounce back when he goes down, but there’s little question that he’s going to continue go down as he navigates a world of bigger, stronger players. His relentless style opened his unlikely path to being a regular in the top hockey league in the world. He’s not going to change.
The question is whether he’ll continue to get back up. It’s why the Blueshirts need to make the extemely difficult but necessary call to move on from Lindgren, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season, in favor of a brawnier blueliner.
There’s a large segment of the Rangers’ fan base that consider any doubting of Lindgren to be heresy. In love with his warrior persona, those fans rightly have come to see him as a rare commodity who brings total commitment to his team every night at his own expense.
That’s completely understandable, but the front office’s responsibility is to look beyond that. Signing Lindgren to an expensive long-term contract means team brass expects to be paying for an effective top-pair defenseman who can shut down opponents’ top lines and control the ice in his own end. The disturbing statistical plummet in his effectiveness suggests that the Rangers might not get much of that over a long-term deal – and it’s what general manager Chris Drury and his staff need to be focused on, not Lindgren’s exemplary character and team-first attitude.
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Comparisons to the contract mistake made with Dan Girardi a decade earlier are certainly relevant ones, but there’s an argument that a similar long-term pact for Lindgren would age even more poorly. While Girardi would block a multitude of shots and battle larger players, Lindgren plays with an even greater degree of physicality. He gives everything he has, every night. The irony is that doing so means he’ll likely run out of what he can give faster than most.
Lindgren has poured himself into the Rangers, and to say goodbye to such a player seems harsh, shallow, cruel, you name it. The front office’s sole job, however, is to make the best decisions for the team’s future, without sentiment factoring in, difficult as that may be.
Rangers Need More Mikkola, Less Lindgren
The organization suddenly has plenty of reasons for optimism over the future of the right side of the defense. In June, the Rangers selected E.J. Emery with their first-round pick. The right-shot blueliner profiles as possible top-four stalwart with mobility and quickness, good hands and strong defensive instincts. Additionally, this training camp has seen the emergence of 22-year-old Victor Mancini, whose 6-3, 229-pound frame comes with physicality, but also some offensive skills and the ability to man the point.
With Mancini looking like a future NHLer and Emery probably a little ways behind him, the Rangers can foresee a time soon in which those youngsters join Fox and a rising Braden Schneider in solidifying a premium position.
Right-shooting defenseman are a much sought-after commodity, considerably more so than left-shooting ones. Replacing Lindgren would no doubt be difficult, but history suggests it would be easier than having to find a competent right-hander. The Rangers organization isn’t exactly brimming with defense prospects, period, but adding a left shooter from outside the organization is going to be a more achievable task.
The Blueshirts weren’t able to retain 2023 trade-deadline acquisition Niko Mikkola two summers ago due to cap constraints, but the huge left-side defender is exactly the kind of player the Rangers should be looking at as a replacement for Lindgren – especially after Mikkola’s heavy, nasty game was focused on them during 2024 East Final. The club needs to add size and edge on the back end, regardless of how much blood Lindgren has been willing to spill for his team.
Lindgren is likely to go down as a beloved Ranger, regardless of what happens next summer. After all, Girardi’s jersey is still worn prominently at MSG. Yet it seems unreasonable to believe that Lindgren’s time in a Black-and-Blueshirt will end any better than Girardi’s did if the organization goes down that path again at its own peril. The club needs to move forward by making what would be an extremely difficult, but correct, call to read the writing on the wall and bid farewell to Lindgren after 2024-25.
