Kris Newbury has been an incredible addition to the Connecticut Whale. As you may recall he came to Hartford in a trade for Jordan Owens on March 3rd 2010.
Newbury has had a few call-ups and played in seven games with the Rangers this season has not made the scorer’s sheet with the exception of 24 PIMs and sports a minus-1. Rangers head coach has spoken to the media and been complimentary of the Brampton, Ontario native noting his toughness, that he can play on the wing or at center, has skill, brings energy and will bang bodies and that he will not back down from anyone.
This year, you could make the case, and a really good one, that Newbury has been the MVP of the Whale to this point in the season.
Having said all of that, the Whale will likely be without Newbury for at least a couple of weeks.
Newbury was in visible discomfort Sunday at the Whale’s annual “Tip-A-Player” event and said he was injured by the hit from Tyler Johnson of the Norfolk Admirals that resulted in a boarding call at 14:39 of the second period.
Given the extent of the look on Newbury’s face of the considerable discomfort that he was in, it only reinforces just how incredibly tough Newbury is. Not only did he finish the period, He played the third period, overtime and took a shot during the shootout as well.
The injury is to his lower body and he said that he is going to be having it evaluated and had no idea what the injury was or how much time he would be out of action for.
Regardless, Head Coach Ken Gernander will need to make some decisions about what he’s going to do moving forward. As Gernander has said many, many times, (paraphrasing here) “Injuries are part of the game and they create opportunities for someone else…”
Through 33 games with the Whale this season, Newbury has 15g, 24a for 39pts. He has 91 PIMs and has a minus-4.
In other injury news, Mats Zuccarello stated that he was feeling much better and was going to try and skate and could possibly return to the lineup for Friday and Saturday’s games.
Chad Kolarik estimated that he should be able to return sometime in mid-March from his knee surgery. He has been doing some light skating and rebuilding the strength in his legs.
The Rangers have signed 6’5, 221-pound right wing and seventh round draft pick from 2010 (#190 overall) Randy McNaught to an AHL contract.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)
