Lias Andersson piles on to very ugly Rangers situation

The Lias Andersson situation is only getting uglier.

The 21-year-old center, who was drafted by the Rangers with the No. 7 pick in 2017, spoke his mind recently in his native Sweden, where he sits suspended by the Blueshirts following his trade request and subsequent abrupt departure from AHL Hartford.

According to Swedish media, Andersson was recently spotted watching a game from the stands in Gothenburg, and further explained his situation to a national broadcast company, SVT.

“A lot of things happening, and eventually there were one too many. I felt enough is enough,” Andersson said, according to a reliable translation. “I won’t get into specifics, but a lot of things happened. It’s been a challenging situation, and finally I just had enough.”

Andersson said he was dealing with a lower-body injury, which didn’t keep him from missing a game with the Wolf Pack, where he had four goals and five points in 13 games between his demotion on Nov. 17 and his trade request just after Dec. 18. But he also implied there might be some mental health issues, as well.

“It’s been a lot of incidents, I have not been well on a personal level because of those incidents,” he told GP, the newspaper in Gothenburg. “This decision may be stupid when it comes to my hockey career, but I have to think about how I feel as a person … Family, friends, health — that’s more important than a hockey career. I’ve taken this decision for my health.”

Andersson made the Rangers out of training camp, but couldn’t earn top-six minutes from coach David Quinn. He played 17 games and had no goals and one assist while averaging 9:33 of ice time, mostly as a fourth-line center.

“I really thought I’d secure the center position behind Mika [Zibanejad], I was really happy,” Andersson said. “But it’s not enough with me being happy with my play. Other people have to be happy as well. It’s tough.”

As for Quinn, he didn’t have much to add on the matter before his team’s return to the Garden against the Avalanche on Tuesday night.

“I just really want to focus on tonight’s game,” Quinn said when asked about the comments.

Andersson was also acutely aware that he has one more year after this one on his entry-level deal, and that the Rangers can keep him suspended for as long as they see fit.

“I miss hockey and I hope I’ll get to play in the NHL again very soon,” Andersson said. “Worst-case scenario I have another year and a half without hockey, but it should not come to that. I hope there is a solution near.”

For more on the Rangers, listen to the latest episode of the “Up In The Blue Seats” podcast:

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