The New York Rangers announced on Sunday that Chris Kreider is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. UPDATE: Chris Kreider (upper body, day-to-day) will not play today. Kreider will not play in the Rangers’ Sunday afternoon matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Rangers ruled out Chris Kreider for Sunday’s game against the Blackhawks and the forward is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Chris Kreider, a healthy scratch for the first time since John Tortorella’s reign behind the bench ended following 2012-13, is no victim.

The New York Rangers fueled speculation as they scratched Chris Kreider from the lineup against their Hudson River rivals, the New Jersey Devils. Kreider was asked about it Friday by Newsday's Colin Stephenson.

The decision to sit the longest tenured Ranger comes amid the club’s 4-12 skid and free fall in the standings to sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 22nd in the NHL.

That hadn’t been the case recently, though, at least not to most folks’ memory. Not until Peter Laviolette left the 33-year-old Kreider out of the lineup that faced the Devils on Monday, in the Rangers’ final game before the NHL’s holiday break.