The New York Rangers have announced that forward Brett Howden has suffered a foot injury and will miss the remainder of the season. This injury comes at a time where the team has slowly clawed itself in a respectable position, but is unlikely to make the postseason. The team provided the injury news Friday morning.
INJURY UPDATES:
-Chris Kreider (lower body) and Ryan Lindgren (upper body) are both not practicing today and are out day to day.
-Brett Howden suffered a fractured foot last night and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 30, 2021
Rangers Brett Howden Out For Season
Howden was having an average season as a depth contributor for the Rangers. He has just one goal and seven points in 42 games while averaging 12:34 per game. He also spent significant time with the penalty-killing unit. The 6’3″ centre also posted below-average possession numbers with a 45.7 percent Corsi For and -2.2 relative Corsi. However, Howden was one of the better players on the faceoff. The 22-year-old skater won draws roughly 46.6 percent of the time. That actually leads all Rangers who have taken at least 100 faceoffs in 2020-21.
The Tampa Bay Lightning originally drafted Howden in the first round of the 2016 Draft, but traded him to New York in 2018 in a deal that included Vladislav Namestnikov and Ryan McDonagh. Howden has 16 goals and 49 points in 178 games with a 42.4 percent Corsi For and -5.1 relative Corsi. The Calgary native will probably never be more than a bottom-six contributor on a good team, but he is still young enough that fans shouldn’t ignore him entirely moving into 2021-22. He did provide some small value for New York that will hopefully carry over into next season.
How New York Replaces Howden
The Rangers shouldn’t have any trouble replacing Howden, even if he was a good faceoff option. The team already has both Filip Chytil and Kevin Rooney that can act as bottom-six centres for the remainder of the year. Don’t expect the team to shuffle the roster too much at this point. There are only a handful of games left and New York is six points behind the Boston Bruins for fourth place in the East Division.
