It is not yet known whether the Rangers intend to move Alexis Lafreniere to right wing when training camp opens on Sept. 21. Perhaps that will become clear when general manager Chris Drury addresses the press on Thursday.
Moving Lafreniere, as we have discussed before, would allow him to compete for a top-six role without moving Chris Kreider, the NHL’s seventh-leading goal scorer the last two seasons, to a nebulous third-line role.
Regardless, the organization should also move Brennan Othmann, the 16th-overall pick of the 2021 draft, to his right. He is listed as a left winger and has played predominantly on that side through his junior career that ended last year with Peterborough’s OHL championship.
It will be either Hartford or Manhattan for Othmann, a 20-year-old, 6-foot, 187-pound lefty. Paradoxically, if Lafreniere moves to right wing, Othmann would probably have a better chance to earn a top-nine spot on the left, with Blake Wheeler a top-nine lock on the right.
To that, I would suggest that this is about the long game. Lafreniere might not be able to make the transition to his off-wing. If he plays on his natural side, Othmann would face the Kreider-Lafreniere-Artemi Panarin blockade on the left.
And honestly, unless Othmann makes it essentially impossible for the Rangers to send him to the AHL, that’s where he will begin his pro apprenticeship. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Plus, the organization sorely lacks depth on the right side. Until the Blueshirts acquired Vlad Tarasenko in early February and Patrick Kane three-plus weeks later, nominal bottom-sixers Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow had combined for 55 games as top-six right wings.
There are no legit projected top-six right wings in the minor league system. The Rangers’ first-round pick this year, 23rd-overall Gabe Perreault, is entering his freshman year at Boston College and is probably three or four years away. The 37-year-old Wheeler is probably going to be a one-and-done.
The Rangers need to add on the right. I say they should move Will Cuylle to his off-wing, as well, after confoundingly not doing that during his rookie pro season with the Wolf Pack.
“I can play both, I can play the right side, too, I played a little bit last year in Peterborough,” Othmann said following the first session of rookie camp Wednesday. “It’s kind of the same thing, picking up the puck on the wall is a little bit harder, but you’re really only in that [set position] on faceoffs.”
Again, this is as much about the future as it is about the 2023-24 season. Othmann, who will turn 21 the first week of January, is going to have to force his way onto the Rangers, whether out of camp or during the season. And there would have to be a vacated top-nine spot open. If he is not going to get meaningful minutes, what’s the point?
“I think it’s going to be pretty hard for sure to beat out [Kreider and Panarin] and with Lafreniere on that left side, too,” Othmann said. “There are really strong forwards there. They’re a class by themselves of NHL players.
“So if I can play the right side, I think that’s obviously very versatile.”
It would be a major surprise if anyone participating in rookie camp makes the opening roster. Cuylle, who had a four-game cameo with the Rangers in January and February while playing the season for the Wolf Pack, will report with the veterans next week. But the way the roster has been constructed, even he will be a long shot to start the season in New York.
The best-case scenario for the organization and its prized prospects is for the young’uns to progress through the early weeks or months to the point at which they become viable candidates for an in-season promotion. Remember, Carl Hagelin did not make the opening roster in 2011, but after he was promoted at Thanksgiving, he immediately assumed an important role. That kind of timeline would be just ducky if applied to Othmann and Cuylle.
(Who is that asking what happens if there are injuries up top, Aaron Rodgers? Shhhhh.)
The opening roster all but certainly will not have a forward between the ages of 24 and 30, with only three 24 or younger. That is a consequence of the drafts from 2014 through 2016. Of the 11 forwards the Blueshirts selected, only Tim Gettinger, who in 16 games posted one assist, made it to New York.
The drafts of the last few years should yield more than that. In addition to Othmann, Cuylle and Perreault, rookie-camp participants Adam Sykora, Bryce McConnell-Barker and Brett Berard are legitimate prospects who could challenge for spots over the foreseeable future. Matt Rempe, who is 6-foot-8, remains a very intriguing future candidate.
This rookie camp is about the future and not so much about this season. Moving Othmann to the right has the potential to pay dividends both sooner and later.