Larry Brooks' column is the springboard for me to touch on one of the remaining unanswered offseason questions. Brooks' lineup column also impacts a second question, which I will cover as well. The order of the two questions though in the original listing from my blog is inverse to the order in which I will cover them here.
10) Will Brennan Othmann and/or Will Cuylle be given a REAL chance to make the squad this summer or will the Rangers opt to not rush the youngsters? Both are on their ELCs and are listed as LW. If they do make the roster, then who gets moved out?(TommyGTrain)
13) How do you want the third and/94 fourth lines to look? Do they need to be a traditional bottom-six or should the third line be more of a scoring line?
Here is what Brooks wrote on both Othmann and Cuylle:
If Cuylle is not a top-nine guy, he should be in Hartford on the Wolf Pack’s top unit. If Alexis Lafreniere shifts to right wing, Cuylle can remain on the left. Otherwise he needs to make the transformation to his off-side.
If Othmann can ride a wave from the World Juniors into a smashing training camp, then by all means the Rangers should use that nine-game probationary period to get a look-see.
But it is wildly unrealistic to expect the teenager to crack the lineup and would be an egregious mistake to rush the 2021, 16th-overall pick into the NHL months ahead of his 20th birthday in January 2023.
In terms of the questions I asked, yes, I do think both players get a realistic chance to break camp with the team. Each, though, is fighting an uphill battle.
Cuylle profiles as a true bottom-six, third-line winger who is more than willing to be physical but can chip in offensively. The 18 games he saw at Hartford in 2020-21, acclimating him somewhat to the NHL style of play, is one reason why he might have a slight edge over Othmann, especially if he will be used in a bottom-six role. That said, I do think it is also somewhat of a long shot for Cuylle to stick, though a strong camp and performance in pre-season games could change the team's mind. If he does not break camp with New York, I do still think we see him on Broadway sometime this season,especially if he excels at Hartford while skating ina. top-six role.
Othmann, who surprisingly has been the more physical of the two Canadian wingers in the WJC (see below, though Adam Sykora, despite his dangerous knee-to-knee hit today, has shown strong physical play as well), is coming off a phenomenal season with Flint in the OHL. As Brooks noted above, if New York keeps him beyond the nine-game tryout, he will have to remain with the team for the entire season, as he is ineligible to be sent down to the AHL. If you look at Mason McTavish last season and William Eklund as well, neither one stayed with their respective teams beyond the nine games. I would love to say it will be different for Othmann, but I believe he gets the tryout and then heads back to juniors.
Question 1 regarding line combinations: Will head coach Gerard Gallant, never as enamored with The Kid Line as most of the rest of us, reunite Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko as the club’s third line, or will Lafreniere make the leap to right wing on the top unit with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider?
If Lafreniere remains on the left, the Rangers’ right side would feature Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Sammy Blais, Ryan Reaves and Julien Gauthier. They combined to score 15 goals in 175 NHL games last season.
Lafreniere scored 19 goals in 79 matches, seven of which he recorded in his 25 games with Zibanejad.
Let’s say Lafreniere — rather than Blais, who was up with Nos. 20 and 93 for his final three games before going down with a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 14 — does get the assignment.
That leaves the second-line spot on the right with Trochek and Artemi Panarin for either Kakko or Kravtsov, with the other presumably on the third line with Chytil and … well, maybe Blais, maybe Barclay Goodrow, maybe Cuylle if the 20-year-old can make the leap from the World Juniors onto the top nine.
By the way, if Kravtsov is unable to make the team, then … Julien Gauthier?
Goodrow is always an option for a top-nine spot, and perhaps it would make perfect sense to add both his experience and 200-foot expertise on a third line with Chytil and Kravtsov. The Rangers would benefit, though, if Goodrow anchored the fourth line.
You know how the Rangers needed to get bigger after they were unable to get to the inside against Tampa Bay?
The only way they get bigger is if Blais can carve out a meaningful — which means top-nine — role. (And if Cuylle is able to go way beyond reasonable expectations.)
Heading into camp next month, the only spots likely set in stone are
Zib with Kreider and Panarin with Trocheck. Granted, that could change and we see Laf on the first line left wing and Kreider on the third unit. Panarin could slot onto the first unit. All that could happen, but my guess is that to start the season, these duos will remain intact.
Beyond that, it's in flux.
Blais is returning from a torn ACL and could slot back on to the first unit. Let's say that happens, then I do think Kravtsov has a realistic shot at breaking camp as the second line right winger. Yes, I know the career production numbers as laid out by Brooks are far from ideal, but in a cap world, young players have to step up unless you are lucky enough to have superstars or stars at below market rates. As we know, this is not the case for NY.
If Blais and
Kravtsov start on the first two lines, the
Kid Line remains intact. Chemistry already exists amongst those three, and if Gallant was smart, he would up the ice time of that trio to make it more like three balanced lines rather than 1A, 1B and then way further down is line three. Again, this is pure supposition, because I firmly expect to see Laf on the right side of Zib and CK20 on Day 1 of camp. The same potentially for Kakko to the right of Panarin and Trocheck, though I would give Kravtsov a real chance to stick.
Suspending belief, if the prior paragraph does, the third line could be Blais or maybe
Goodrow with Chytil and Kravtsov. Not ideal for those two skilled players, but either Blais or Goodrow could be the grinder to help create chances for the other two. Cuylle will have an opportunity to earn a spot on this line, especially if the changes I mentioned earlier do come to fruition.
Presuming Cuylle and/or Othmann do not make the team and the projected combinations noted end up in place, the fourth line could be
Dryden Hunt-Ryan Carpenter-Goodrow or Blais with Reaves the odd man out. Gallant has a ton of combinations and permutations to srt through early in camp. Plus, what we see the first month or more of the season may not be what we see come the flip of the calendar year. In addition, as much as I would like to make Tyler Motte's return happen, I just don't think it looks to be in the cards. I hope to be proven wrong.
I know this has been a topic for many, so you tell me.
What do you want your line combinations to be? Do you think either Cuylle or Othmann or both get a realistic chance to break camp and do either make it?
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