After suffering going under the knife once again this offseason, it appeared as if Marian Gaborik would miss a major part of the 2012-13 season. The lockout, however, may end up helping the New York Rangers and Gaborik tremendously.

When the Rangers found out that Gaborik wasn’t supposed to play until late November or possibly December, they made a major effort to trade for Columbus superstar Rick Nash. They succeeded. Now, however, the lockout will has caused the league to cancel all games through November, and if an agreement is reached soon, Gaborik could miss very little, if any games in a shortened season.

Gaborik was the leading scorer of the Rangers, who had the Eastern Conference’s best record, in 2011-12. He was also one of the few players to surpass the 40-goal plateau.

The problem that Gaborik has faced his entire career, though, is that he is extremely prone to injury. When healthy, he is one of the better players in the league and his stats would likely only improve with Rick Nash being his teammate, but he is still a risky pick due to his injury troubles that have surrounded him every year. Maybe his surgery will help him out, as Rangers fans are certainly hoping that he can repeat the same success that he had last year in his first year wearing blue.

As possibly the best player (that’s not a goalie) on one of the NHL’s best teams, Marian Gaborik could definitely be a huge asset to your fantasy team as long as injuries do not haunt him again.