In a move that didn’t come as a surprise, the New York Rangers placed Vincent Trocheck on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) earlier today. In a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 9, Trocheck left the game in the second period. After blocking two shots on a previous shift, he took one more before exiting with an upper-body injury.

The 32-year-old center is in the third season of a seven-year contract worth a $5.63 million cap hit. He’s already missed the past three games due to the injury. By putting him on LTIR, it opened up cap space for the Rangers.

They recalled defenseman Scott Morrow from the Hartford Wolf Pack to fill the empty roster spot. According to Puck Pedia, Morrow takes up $1.16 million of cap space due to not being on the roster. That includes performance bonuses along with his $917,000 cap hit. In addition, they have $2.7 million remaining in LTIR.

The move was made due to defenseman Will Borgen being banged up after last night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers. At the moment, Morrow is a placeholder in case Borgen can’t go tomorrow night when the Rangers visit the Toronto Maple Leafs. During a team practice, he was rotating in on the bottom pair along with Matthew Robertson and Connor Mackey.

Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan was pretty clear on things this afternoon. Regarding Morrow’s availability for Thursday, he said, “I’m not sure either way. … It all depends on the injuries.”

Morrow was acquired in the summer as part of the deal that sent K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes on July 1. A 22-year-old right defenseman who possesses offensive skills that could be utilized on the second power play unit, Morrow has played in 16 career games. Last season, he had a goal and four assists in 14 contests for the Hurricanes. He also got into five postseason games. In a limited role under Rod Brind’Amour, Morrow was a minus-five with four shots while averaging 10:29 of ice time.

Considering the state of the blue line, it couldn’t hurt to see what Morrow has to offer. At the moment, there’s the very possibility that Urho Vaakanainen and Braden Schneider could play in the top four against the offensive-minded Maple Leafs in Toronto. That doesn’t exactly sound promising. If that’s indeed the case, you’re probably looking at a third pair of Robertson and Morrow. Two young defensemen paired together on the road. The Leafs would definitely try to get a favorable matchup with Auston Matthews.

It all depends on whether Borgen plays. If he doesn’t, it could be a tough night. Even though they’ve scored all of their goals (10) on the road, those came against weaker opponents. For as weak as the Leafs are defensively, they’re still a stronger team. We’ll see how it goes.