Rangers' Brennan Othmann shows he can keep up with big boys
The Rangers' Brennan Othmann during training camp at the team's facility in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Sept. 15. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Brennan Othmann understands the situation he’s in. The club's first-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft is in training camp with the Rangers, and he hasn’t looked out of place at all, playing with grown men and longtime professionals.
But his odds of making the team for the season are, to be frank, pretty long.
Still, the 19-year-old Othmann is doing his best to make Rangers management notice him. In the preseason-opening 4-1 victory over the Islanders Monday, Othmann stood out, registering two assists — including a spectacular dash up ice to retrieve a loose puck and set up K’Andre Miller for a shorthanded goal.
“I want to stay here as long as I possibly can,’’ Othmann said after Monday’s game. “I want to make the team, but if I don't make it this year, there's always next year. And I want to see these guys win a [Stanley] Cup. I think it's their year this year, and they have a few they have a few more years to do that. So yeah, I think my mindset is just to continue playing hockey and continue learning and having fun.’’
Othmann, who had 50 goals and 97 points in 66 games last season for the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League, pointed out how much talent is on the roster — so much so that the line of Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko coach Gerard Gallant put together on the first day of practice is no more than a third line.
Othmann and Will Cuylle, teammates on the Canada team that won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships last month, will both get a look by Gallant and the coaching staff. But cracking the lineup for either would be a tall order. In Othmann’s case, because he still has junior eligibility remaining, he can’t even develop his game and bide his time in the minor leagues this season. Per the agreement the NHL has with the Canadian junior leagues, if Othmann doesn’t make the Rangers’ NHL roster, he must be returned to his junior team for the entire season.
On Monday, the 6-0, 175-pound Scarborough, Ontario, native looked ready to move up to the pro game from junior hockey. He said he thought he was able to keep up with the speed of the game, and after taking a solid hit into the boards in the first period by the Islanders’ Alexander Romanov that bloodied his nose, he threw a body into Islanders defenseman Robin Salo on his next shift.
While he conceded to having some nerves, he said he got some advice from teammate Braden Schneider about playing with veteran professionals for the first time.
“You can't get star-struck,’’ he said in describing Schneider’s message to him. “I said 'How's it like, playing with all these stars you dream about playing with and against?' And he said, ‘You can't really think about that. You’ve kind of just got to play.’ And that's kind of what I thought tonight.’’
Blue shorts. Forwards Gustav Rydahl, Ryan Carpenter, Jimmy Vesey, Bobby Trivigno and Vitali Kravtsov, who all played Monday, traveled to Boston and were to play in back-to-back games. Vesey had another strong game, with two assists in the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss. Adam Fox and Alexis Lafrenière had the Ranger goals, but Lafrenière did not finish the game, though, after getting hit with teammate Hunter Skinner’s shot… Adam Sykora, the team’s second round pick at this summer’s draft, was loaned back to his team in the Slovakia league, HK Nitra… After back-to-back games, the team is scheduled to be off on Wednesday.
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.
