Top Rangers prospect learns ‘this is a man’s league,’ heads back to AHL
Gabe Perreault’s second tour of duty with the New York Rangers didn’t last long. The question now is when the next one will come.
One week after calling up the 20-year-old forward from Hartford of the American Hockey League in hopes he could give the offense a spark, the Rangers sent Perreault back to the minors Sunday, calling up defenseman Scott Morrow.
With the Rangers struggling to score at home, coach Mike Sullivan put Perreault on the top line with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad and used him on the second power-play unit against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 10. Perreault responded by recording his first NHL point, the primary assist on Alexis Lafreniere’s power-play goal in a 6-3 victory, their first of the season at Madison Square Garden.
But that was just about the only highlight for Perreault, New York’s first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft. He was demoted to the third line, saw limited touches and got another lesson in how difficult life can be for talented-but-smallish (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) forwards. He had one assist and two shots on goal in the three games, and averaged 13:09 of ice time – but less than 13 minutes in each of the last two.
“This isn’t an easy league,” assistant coach David Quinn said Sunday after the Rangers fell to 1-7-1 at the Garden with a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. “He’s got an awful lot of talent, and he’s got a bright future in this league, but this is a man’s league.”
Perreault signed with the Rangers on March 31 after his college team, Boston College, was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. He dressed for five games in April but was scoreless, finishing minus-1, with an average TOI of 14:26.
He played well during the preseason, but Sullivan and his staff felt Perreault would be better off getting more ice time and playing top-six minutes in Hartford.
“Obviously, I think Gabe has NHL talent. I think that’s on display,” Sullivan said during the preseason. “He’s a really talented kid and I think he’s a terrific hockey player. He’s young, and in my experience of coaching young players like that, a lot of it is just about the thankless jobs – knowing when to put a puck deep, defensive responsibilities, awareness in the defensive zone and then strength, just being strong on puck battles. He sees it extremely well.
“My impression of him, in just watching him, is that he’s an NHL player in the making.”
Gabe Perreault returned to Hartford after 3 games with Rangers: ‘part of the growing process’
Perreault found his stride after a slow start in the minors. He was the AHL Player of the Week for the week ending Nov. 2 after putting up six points (three goals, three assists) and finishing plus-5 in three games.
“I think it was really good for me to go down there, play a lot of minutes, work on a lot of the little things that I needed to work on,” Perreault said after his recall. “Wall play, defensive details, little stuff like that — and also tried to work on my strengths at the same time, so a mix of all those things.”
Perreault was leading the Wolf Pack in scoring with 10 points (five goals, five assists) in nine games when he was called up. He’s still Hartford’s leading scorer despite missing five of their games.
But instead of flying to Las Vegas with the Rangers on Monday for their Tuesday night game against the Golden Knights, the son of former NHL center Yanic Perreault will be on the ice at XL Center in Hartford for an 11 a.m. game against the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Quinn, who split the coaching duties with fellow assistant Joe Sacco on Sunday because Sullivan was absent for personal reasons, is optimistic that Perreault will succeed in the NHL. But he believes there will be some growing pains along the way for the talented youngster.
“Gabe did some good things while he was up here,” Quinn explained. “But when Gabe’s here, he plays on the top two lines, and when you [do], you play against everyone’s top [defensive] pairings and everybody’s best players. That can get a little overwhelming for you physically and with the pace.
“We just felt like this was part of the growing process and the development process for him. Give him an opportunity to come here, play meaningful games, and now he’s going back down, and I’m sure this experience will be beneficial to his development.”
