Following the New York Rangers’ Eastern Conference Final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning it was revealed that Ryan McDonagh was playing on a broken right foot.
On Tuesday the defenseman updated his status with Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
“We contemplated (surgery) and we thought the best route was the bones were lined up enough, they said it was an acceptable alignment, I guess, where they didn’t need to do surgery,” McDonagh said. “So that was a crucial part of these last two weeks to make sure the (bones) stayed forming straight I guess, and I obviously have to continue to be cautious for another week or two and hopefully get going.”
Rangers’ head coach Alain Vigneault said his captain was playing through the injury “for a couple of games” following New York’s Game 7 loss to the Bolts.
The 26-year-old scored three goals and nine points while averaging 23:31 in 19 playoff games.
He missed the first half of the first period in Game 7 waiting for the freezing to “kick in”.
“I think the big issue they were talking about (if I had surgery) was the plates on the foot might be a little bit painful during the season next year being in the skates,” McDonagh said. “You want to avoid surgery at all costs, but that was another issue they were contemplating - yeah, we could get the bone to line up perfectly (with surgery), but then you’re gonna be dealing with pain throughout the season, then after the season have to get them taken out again and rest another three or four weeks after that (second) surgery.”
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