The lone Ranger who needed offseason surgery turned out to be Jesper Fast. The team announced Monday that the winger underwent a successful labral repair of his left hip. The recovery is expected to be five months, meaning Fast won’t be back until November, missing all of training camp and about the first month of the season.
Maybe more importantly for general manager Jeff Gorton is that means Fast won’t be healthy come June 21, when the Vegas Golden Knights have to submit their list for the expansion draft. Fast had been lining up to be one of the top Rangers exposed to the draft, in which one player from every team will be picked. The 25-year-old Swede is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights and still will be exposed, but how attractive he is has changed.
Fast’s injury and sustained absence could shift the main three Rangers targets for Vegas back to center Oscar Lindberg, also a 25-year-old Swede and restricted free agent with more offensive upside; backup goalie Antti Raanta, 28, signed through next season at a modest $1 million salary-cap hit; and Michael Grabner, the speedy winger and 27-goal scorer from this past season who is signed through next season at $1.65 million per.
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Assuming Gorton protects restricted free agent Mika Zibanejad as they try to work out a new deal, the GM still needs to get one more forward under contract for next season before the draft to meet the requirements of two signed forwards to expose.
Fast is a quiet player, but his importance to the team was made clear yet again when he won the Players’ Player award this past year for the second straight time. Playing in 68 games, he registered six goals and 21 points and a plus-6 rating, while adding three goals and six points in 12 playoffs games as the Rangers lost a six-game, second-round series to the Senators. Since coming over from Sweden in 2012-13, Fast has played 216 games for the Rangers, plus 39 in the postseason.