- Rangers rookie defenseman Alberts Smits is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury
- The No. 5 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft is scoreless through 17 games and sits out Monday in Edmonton
- Read below for who replaces Smits and where the Rangers stand on their western trip
The Rangers lost their rookie defenseman to injury.
New York announced Monday that Alberts Smits is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He will not play against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.
The team didn’t say when or how Smits got hurt. He logged 13:22 in the 3-2 win over the Flyers on Nov. 5, then sat out the next game against Seattle. Peter Baugh of The Athletic passed along the update:
This is the first injury of Smits’ NHL career. The 18-year-old Latvian went fifth overall in June, and he made the opening night roster out of camp. We covered his opening night roster spot in September and his first NHL game shortly after.
He hasn’t recorded a point in 17 games and is a minus-2, but he plays 14:29 a night as a physical, defense-first rookie.
Marc Del Gaizo was recalled from Hartford of the AHL on Sunday to fill the spot. Sean Durzi is already on injured reserve, so New York is thin on the back end for the next few weeks.
The Rangers sit third in the Metropolitan Division at 10-7-1 and have won three straight. Edmonton is the second stop of a four-game western trip, with Calgary and Vancouver still to come this week.
Del Gaizo gets Smits’ minutes until the rookie is cleared.
