Rangers forward eager to get back in action after serious knee injury

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Matt Garland
August 29, 2022 (2:51 PM)

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Sammy Blais Is eager to rebound from an ACL tear that cost him most of the 2021-2022 season. The incident occurred when he got tangled up with former New Jersey Devils' defenceman PK Subban.

"I'm going to be ready to go,» Blais told The Post in a recent phone interview, «So when I start training camp, I have to be myself and have to be the same player I was before.»

Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury re-signed Blais, who came to New York as the feature return in the July 2021 trade that sent Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis, to a one-year, $1.525 million deal at the beginning of this offseason. It was a $25,000 bump for a player who only had fourteen games in the red, white and blue jersey. That indicates just how highly Drury and head coach Gerard Gallant think of the 26-year-old winger.

"He's played in the league for a while,» Gallant said of Blais, who was the Blues' 176th-overall pick in the 2014 draft, «He's mostly been a fourth-line guy in St. Louis, a little bit up on the third line, but he's one of those guys who has real good hands, as we see, and he's a big power forward.»

Blais admitted it was nerve-racking to suffer the first knee injury of his career at the beginning of what was a contract year, but the toughest part of the rehab was not being around the team as much as he would've liked. He made a conscious effort to be a part of the season as much as he could.

Blais travelled with the team on their playoff run. Taking part in morning skates but didn't dress for any games.

«I wanted to prove to everyone that they made a good choice trading for me, and it was really, really hard to be away from the team,» Blais said,«I didn't get as close with the guys as I wanted to, so it was kind of hard for that and being away from the game. But I'm doing good now. I'm just looking forward to get back on the ice with the guys at training camp.»

The Montmagny Quebec product, should be in the mix for a bottom-six role in Gallant's lineup when the season opens in October.

"To be honest, I think we have everything here,» Blais said when asked for his evaluation of the Rangers, «I think last year, I was obviously not playing, but I was watching all the games. They were playing really good and watching them play, I was like, we really have a good team here, and I want to be a part of it.' But I think just keep working hard and I think if we do that, we can beat any team in this league.»