Why Rangers’ need to play rookie in top 6 isn’t just about future with playoff berth not assured
Brennan Othmann has been stirring the imaginations of fans ever since the New York Rangers selected him No. 16 overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, general manager Chris Drury’s first in charge.
Othmann’s 97-point bust-out in 66 games with the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League during the 2021-22 season raised eyebrows and had the Blueshirts faithful calling impatiently for his callup to the big club – which would have been well before he was ready.
His wildly successful junior hockey career was followed by a strong 21-goal, 28-assist effort in 2023-24 for Hartford of the American Hockey League, when he was second on the team in goal scoring. Slowed by injury with the Wolf Pack this season, he nonetheless scored 12 goals in 27 games before being recalled by the Rangers on Feb. 24.
Now, those pleading to see Othmann receive a bigger role over the final 11 games of the season are being anything but impatient – only sensible.
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Waiting for underperforming core players to wake up isn’t sound strategy
With the Rangers struggling in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, giving the 22-year-old Othmann an extended spin on one of the top two forward units isn’t primarily about auditioning the winger for next season anymore. The Blueshirts need someone to immediately produce offense, with most of their high-priced stars failing miserably to do so with any consistency.
Coach Peter Laviolette finally seemed to see the light in the desperately-needed 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. Starting in his usual fourth-line spot, Othmann was impactful, doling out five hits, crashing the net and jawing with several Canucks. It’s the kind of highly-engaged game the Rangers drafted him for – and exactly what they require right now.
After watching his team get off to yet another poor start in a crucial contest, Laviolette moved Othmann up to a line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck in the third period, and he helped spark a four-goal outburst. Othmann’s battle with Vancouver star defenseman Quinn Hughes in front of goaltender Kevin Lankanen helped K’Andre Miller bank a goal in off Hughes’ skate midway through the third. Othmann also earned an assist on Adam Fox’s second-period tally for his first NHL point.
It took 16 games — 13 this season and three last — but that one-point total has barely been worse of late than those of the Rangers’ core forwards, all of whom have look cooked at times. Mika Zibanejad has one assist in his past six games. Chris Kreider’s goal in the 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, the Rangers’ sixth in nine games (2-6-1), is his only point in seven contests. J.T. Miller was pointless in three and without a goal in nine, until his empty-netter sealed the win against his former team Saturday. He also had an assist.
Alexis Lafreniere, one of the young forwards that the Rangers envisioned as a future core roster player along with Othmann, was the player dropped from his usual spot with Panarin and Trocheck on Saturday. He has one goal in his past 19 games, his mostly nightmarish season continuing to languish. However, he did record two third-period assists against the Canucks for his first points in four games after being pushed down in the lineup, including setting up Jonny Brodzinski for the eventual game-winner.
Othmann, largely limited to bottom-six assignments and scant minutes — his impact came in only 8:17 TOI on Saturday, and he’s averaging about nine minutes on the season — responded to Laviolette handing him greater responsibility. There’s every reason for the coach to keep doing so until the former first-round pick proves him wrong.
“I thought he did good. At the net there on one of the goals, which was good,” Laviolette said postgame. “Again, (I was) just mixing it up. The first was a dead period (for the Rangers), and so mixed it up, he ended up moving up the lineup, I thought he did good.”
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Brennan Othmann could replicate Chris Kreider’s 2012 arrival
Laviolette has been loyal to his veterans to a fault this season, though he deserves full credit for the bold (desperate?) move in elevating Othmann to a consequential role against the Canucks. The coach has apparently grown tired of “dead” periods from his team, and the Blueshirts have become stale up front, a fact evidenced by the fall of their once-vaunted power play and continued struggles to match teams 5-on-5.
Though far from a perfect parallel, bold thinking is what led the Rangers to pluck a 20-year-old Kreider, the No. 19 overall draft selection in 2009, out of Boston College after the Eagles’ season ended in 2011-12. Kreider made his NHL debut in those playoffs, and playing significant minutes in key situations, used his speed, size and power to provide a jolt to the Blueshirts. He recorded five goals, two assists and 29 hits in 18 games as the club reached the Eastern Conference Final.
The Rangers realized they needed what Kreider, though utterly unproven, could bring back then. It appears as if Laviolette is realizing what Othmann – who has 29 hits in 13 games this season – could bring now. Miller, Kreider, Zibanejad and Trocheck played in the Four Nations Face-Off, and it’s possible they’re out of gas as a result. Panarin has been rolling with 16 points in his past 12 games, but needs help, and isn’t getting much at all from a group that has seemed listless. Othmann’s energy Saturday seemed to help change the vibe around the forwards, eswpecially after the Rangers managed one shot on goal — by fourth-liner Matt Rempe — in the first period and just 12 in the game.
Perhaps it’s just one game, and expecting a 2012 Kreider effect from Othmann on a regular basis is unrealistic, though Othmann is a second-year pro and Kreider was fresh off the college campus. What seems certain is that hoping for over-30 veterans, most of whom have underperformed their career norms all season, to suddenly start producing at their usual levels isn’t a sound strategy with so few games left.
Othmann might prove to be a key part of the Rangers near future. On Saturday, he showed that he might be a critical part of the present – if only he’s given the chance to prove it as the Blueshirts try to avoid an early summer.
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