from Mollie Walker of the New York Post,

So the Rangers will finish out the regular season without Blake Wheeler, who was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday following a hair-raising fall in which his right leg bent in a way it isn’t supposed to.

It turned out to be as bad as it looked, but as The Post’s Larry Brooks first reported, a return during the playoffs hasn’t been entirely ruled out.

That will depend on Wheeler’s recovery timeline and how far the Rangers go in the playoffs, the latter of which will be directly dependent on what Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury does before the March 8 trade deadline now that acquiring a top-six right wing is of the utmost importance.

“He’s been amazing since he’s been here,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of Wheeler after the Rangers concluded their outdoor practice on Friday ahead of their Stadium Series matchup with the Islanders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. “His presence. He comes in to work every day. Positive. Hardworking. You can see it right before even training camp started that he was in there early.

“He was committed to being a part of this team and making it successful. He did that, both in the room and on the ice. When you lose a veteran player like that with such an impact in the room, that’s tough to replace.”

continued

Watch the incident below.