Rangers send Brennan Othmann down to AHL Hartford, promote Will Cuylle to top line
Brennan Othmann of the Rangers skates during the first period against the Canucks at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH – As Brennan Othmann was going down, Will Cuylle was going up – up in the lineup, that is.
Othmann, the forward prospect who’d been called up from AHL Hartford last Thursday, was returned to the Wolf Pack on Tuesday after having played three games with the parent club. It was his first taste of NHL regular-season hockey.
Meanwhile Cuylle, his friend and former World Junior Championships teammate, found himself promoted to the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad at practice.
“Yeah, it's pretty cool,’’ Cuylle said of being on the top line, at least for a practice. “It's just a practice, and maybe see how things look out there. But it's obviously, two really good players and a couple of Ranger legends, so it's cool to play with them and obviously I can learn a lot from them as well.’’
“It's practice,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was some opportunity just to pop him in there and see how he does (and) just look at different things in practice.’’
After making the team out of training camp, Cuylle, 21, had been on the third line all season until fourth-line right wing Tyler Pitlick went down last week with a lower-body injury. At that point, the Rangers called up Othmann, a 6-foot, 186-pound left wing who didn’t seem to fit the profile of a fourth-liner. So Othmann went into Cuylle’s spot on the third line and the 6-3, 210-pound Cuylle went to the fourth line.
Othmann made an impression in his first game, Thursday against Chicago. He played 12 minutes, 26 seconds and led the team in shots on goal with five.
“I thought he had a good impact,’’ Laviolette said of Othmann. “I think things become, for young players… a little bit more challenging when you play with some of the upper echelon teams in the league. But I thought he did well. I mean, there's no major flaws. The first game he had some impact offensively. I thought it was a little bit less the second game.’’
In sending Othmann down, the Rangers were left with just 12 forwards available for practice, including Kaapo Kakko, who is on the verge of returning from injury. And so Kakko, though still wearing a different-colored, non-contact jersey, was able to practice fully with the team, taking all the repetitions in all the drills, as opposed to just rotating in as an extra forward.
Although Laviolette said Kakko was not limited and seemed positive about his imminent return, he cautioned that he was still in a different color jersey for now and won’t necessarily be returning to the lineup for Thursday’s game in St. Louis, or the Saturday-Sunday home-and-home against Washington.
After practice, the Rangers called up forward Jake Leschyshyn from Hartford. Leschyshyn had two goals Saturday against Hershey and has three goals and three assists in 14 games this season.
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Jacob Trouba missed practice for personal reasons, the Rangers said. His wife is pregnant and expecting the couple’s first child. Laviolette said he didn’t know whether Trouba would be back Wednesday, or if he would be able to make the trip to St. Louis.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
