Rangers swap minor-league forwards with Lightning

NHL: Preseason-Carolina Hurricanes at Tampa Bay Lightning
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The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning exchanged minor-league forwards on Saturday, with the Rangers receiving Lucas Edmonds while sending Ryder Korczak to the Lightning.

Neither has played in the NHL. The Rangers assigned Edmonds to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.

Edmonds, who turns 24 on Monday, has skated in 26 games for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League this season. He has scored one goal and has four assists. The native of North Bay, Ontario, was selected by Tampa Bay in the third round (No. 86) of the 2022 NHL Draft. He is in his third pro season and had 48 points (25 goals, 23 assists) in 120 AHL games – all with Syracuse, the Lightning’s top affiliate.

His best season was 2022-23, when he had 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists) in 49 games — leading all Crunch rookies in points and tying for fifth on the team in goals.

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The 5-foot-11, 178-pound forward played in Sweden, including time against grown men, until 2021-22, when he was invited to join the Kingston Frontenacs of Ontario Hockey League as an overage player and had 113 points (34 goals, 79 assists) in 68 games. He finished third in the league in points and first in assists, winning the Jim Mahon Trophy as the OHL’s top scoring right wing.

Korczak played in 35 games with Hartford this season, putting up 14 points (three goals, eight assists) with 14 penalty minutes and a plus-4 rating. The 5-foot-11, 172-pound forward has skated in 107 AHL games, all with Hartford; he had 12 goals, three on the power play, and 31 points with 42 penalty minutes. He made his Calder Cup Playoffs debut last season with the Wolf Pack, finishing with one goal and one assist in 10 postseason games.

The native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, was selected by the Rangers in the third round (No. 75) of the 2021 draft.

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