During Saturday night’s 6-1 victory over the Penguins, Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy was injured early in the second period on a play involving Rickard Rakell.

With 16:22 left in the period, Soucy missed on a hit on Rakell, who just got out of the way. Instead, Soucy’s left skate made contact with Rakell’s left skate sending him awkwardly into the boards with his head exposed. Shaken up on the play, he went to the locker room and didn’t return to the game.

After taking 10 shifts and logging 6:35 of ice time, Soucy suffered an upper-body injury in the game. Two days after losing Vincent Trocheck to an upper-body injury that’ll keep him out week-to-week, it appears that the Rangers will be without Soucy for a while. He was placed on the injured reserve by the team earlier today.

In his place, Connor Mackey was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack. The 29-year-old journeyman skated in three games the past two seasons for the Rangers. Mackey has had a pair of fights, including a memorable one against Brady Tkachuk in 2023-24 that led to a Rangers’ come from behind win over the Senators. A serviceable defenseman, he’s been used in emergency situations. It looks like he’s up for the time being due to the salary cap.

The question for Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan is whether or not he’ll play Matthew Robertson for Sunday night’s home game against the Capitals. A former 2019 second round pick, Robertson debuted towards the conclusion of last year taking part in two games. Now 24, he made the roster as the seventh defenseman. With Soucy going down, is this his time? That depends on the coaching staff.

With Soucy going down after a more promising start than when he came over from the Avalanche at last year’s trade deadline, Sullivan has a decision to make regarding the Rangers blue line. Will he keep Braden Schneider and Urho Vaakainen together and use them more? Or will he elevate Schneider up to play with Will Borgen on the second pair? Neither Mackey nor Robertson should play in the top four. Their minutes must be sheltered. It’s a bit easier to do with the final change at home.

Updating things, Colin Stephenson of Newsday tweeted that it’ll be Schneider moving up to play with Borgen on the second pair. Robertson is a go for tonight’s game. He will start with Vaakainen on the third pair. That’s the right decision.

Morrow Stays With Wolf Pack

Meanwhile, prospect Scott Morrow skated with the Wolf Pack last night in a 2-1 loss to the Wikes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The plan is for Morrow to stay in the American Hockey League and continue to develop for the time being. That can always change depending on how things go with the big club.

In the loss, Gabe Perreault picked up a primary assist on a goal scored by Trey-Fix Wolansky. Brennan Othmann picked up a secondary helper. Along with Brett Berard, the Rangers have four young players in the AHL. For now, they can remain patient. However, if more injuries occur to the main roster, it could change what the organization’s plans.