New York Rangers send young forward packing to the AHL leaving them with zero breathing room for injuries

Tuesday's roster shuffle came fast after the double gut punch of Igor Shesterkin going on IR and Adam Fox landing on LTIR. With those holes, the Rangers recalled Spencer Martin and Scott Morrow, then reassigned Berard to Hartford.

That last part is where it gets questionable, because it leaves the Rangers skating on a knife edge up front. If you dress 12 healthy forwards and one guy tweaks something in warmups, you're suddenly calling Hartford again.

Berard, 23, hasn't done much on the scoresheet in his latest look, which makes the demotion easy to justify on paper. He's got 11 NHL games this season with zero points, 10 shots, and about 10:41 per night.

Still, he's also the kind of energy winger you can stash as a 13th forward when the injury list looks like a grocery receipt. Fox and Shesterkin being out already forced the club to prioritize bodies at goalie and on defense.

The only way this forward math feels comfortable is if the Rangers believe help is trending the right way. Mike Sullivan recently offered more positive notes, with J.T. Miller cleared for full contact but not ready for Monday, and Noah Laba skating on his own as he works back from an upper-body injury.

Personally, I hate when roster decisions leave you one bad twist away from dressing 11 forwards.

On the ice, the risk is fatigue and line juggling, especially if Sullivan wants an aggressive forecheck and hard backpressure through the middle. You can't really rotate anyone out when there's no extra forward sitting in a suit.

Laba's absence has already been a hit, he had 12 points in 42 games before getting tagged week-to-week. If Miller and Laba stay out longer, this Berard move looks less like discipline and more like a gamble.

Now the next milestone is the next practice group, because that's where you'll see whether this was smart roster trimming or just tempting fate.

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