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[New York Rangers]

Rangers Daily: Hoping that kids can be part of effective third line; Strome wants Ovechkin to stay in Washington

Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesWendell Cruz-Imagn Images

One of the New York Rangers’ biggest failings last season was the inability to put together an effective third line during the final two-thirds of the season. That issue was a key to the Blueshirts becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to go from winning the Presidents’ Trophy to missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs one year later.

Putting together a competitive third line will be one of the major challenges for new coach Mike Sullivan when the Rangers convene at training camp in September. Our Tom Castro writes that two of the Blueshirts’ most recent first-round draft picks, Brennan Othmann (2021) and Gabe Perreault (2023), could be keys to solving that problem.

Neither player has scored an NHL goal, but both have plenty of talent and figure to get every opportunity to find a role on Broadway – perhaps as wings flanking 24-year-old center Juuso Parssinen.

Danny Wild-Imagn Images

One thing is for certain: If the Rangers are to return to the playoffs this season, they need to put together a third line that can be effective at both ends of the ice.

New York Rangers​

Forever Blueshirts: Are the Rangers finished their offseason remodeling job? Or is the real work just getting started? Our Ryan McInerney takes a look.

The third annual Shoulder Check Showcase is Thursday night in Stamford, Connecticut. There are plenty of current and former Rangers taking part in an event that has turned into an offseason destination for a number of players. CLICK HERE for more information about the Shoulder Check Showcase and movement.

NHL Trade Talk & News​

NHL.com: Will this be the final NHL season for Alex Ovechkin, who passed Wayne Gretzky late last season to become the League’s all-time leading goal-scorer? There have been rumblings that Ovi, who turns 40 on Sept. 17, will return to Russia to finish out his career, but teammate Dylan Strome doesn’t necessarily think that’s the case. Of course, Strome has a vested interest in Ovechkin remaining in Washington: The 28-year-old set NHL career highs in goals (29), assists (53) and points (82) in 2024-25 while primarily playing center on Ovechkin’s line.

TSN: A judge in London, Ontario, is set to rule Thursday in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team. Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in an encounter that took place in a London hotel room in the early hours of June 19, 2018.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Our friend Dan Kingerski looks at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top-five prospects. The Pens are coming off three straight non-playoff seasons and are trying to get younger while hoping the terrific trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang can help them return to the postseason.

The Athletic ($$): Gavin McKenna, the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, spoke with Scott Wheeler about his decision to leave Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League and play his draft season at Penn State. He’s busy training before leaving for Penn State in mid-August.

Philly Hockey Now: Speaking of kids leaving juniors for college, did Porter Martone, the Philadelphia Flyers’ top pick (No, 6 overall) in last month’s NHL Draft, make the right decision by opting to leave Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League and play at Michigan State? William James takes a look.

ESPN: It’s late July, but ESPN is already looking toward the new season with its first power rankings for 2025-26. Not surprisingly, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are on top. The Rangers are ranked No. 17.

The Hockey News: Forward Daniel Sprong, who’s played with seven NHL teams, is trying his luck in Russia. The 28-year-old signed a one-year deal with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. He split last season between the Seattle Kraken and New Jersey Devils.

Source: https://www.foreverblueshirts.com/n...-strome-wants-ovechkin-to-stay-in-washington/

 

[New York Rangers]

Rangers’ hopes for a productive third line hinge on Brennan Othmann, Gabe Perreault

Danny Wild-Imagn ImagesDanny Wild-Imagn Images

For one youthful and promising New York Rangers forward, the time should be now. For another slightly less-experienced one, anything the Blueshirts get out of him at the NHL level this season is probably gravy.

Yet despite their having played only 30 combined NHL games, the Rangers will be counting on a significant step forward from Brennan Othmann and/or Gabe Perreault in 2025-26. Without that happening, chances are the depth problems up front that have plagued the Blueshirts for the past few seasons will continue to drag them down.

The two first-round draft picks are young. Othmann is 22 and Perreault is just 20; he played five games with the Rangers at the end of last season after turning pro following the conclusion of Boston College’s season. Neither has scored an NHL goal, and only Othmann has recorded a point; he had two assists in his 22 games on Broadway last season.

The Rangers, however, need a lot more from both players — and in short order.

Related: Are the Rangers’ offseason moves over, or is the real work just beginning?

Mike Sullivan might look to form another Kid Line​

Peter Carr/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Blueshirts have less than $800,000 salary-cap space remaining, according to Puckpedia, after taking care of offseason business, which was highlighted by the signing of free-agent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and the re-upping of young forwards Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom and Juuso Parssinen — along with the necessary trade of defenseman K’Andre Miller. Despite all of that, the bottom-six forward corps will again be a giant question mark going into the new season. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the third line, which has the potential to remain a season-long puzzle.

Depending on what new coach Mike Sullivan sees at training camp, the fourth line could again be a good one. Sullivan could easily stay the course set by predecessor Peter Laviolette and employ the Twin Towers alignment with Rempe and Edstrom flanking veteran center Sam Carrick. That would keep together the huge, physical trio that forechecks, battles in the corners and in front of the net, and mixes it up with opponents while setting a tone the Rangers so desperately crave.

Where Sullivan seems sure to be challenged like the coaches that preceded him on Broadway is in attempting to forge a productive third line — one with identity and purpose that can get the best of its matchups on a regular basis.

Danny Wild-Imagn Images

If Sullivan succeeds, it will be impressive. The assignment has amounted to a revolving door for forwards since Gerard Gallant put together the “Kid Line” of Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil late in the 2021-22 season. The Rangers haven’t come close to duplicating that level of effectiveness on their third line since.

With Othmann and Perreault in the fold, maybe Kid Line 2.0 — with Parssinen, 24, possibly in the middle — is exactly what Sullivan should be looking for from the unit this season.

In a familiar refrain, the Rangers don’t have many options to build out the line beyond their promising youth. Veteran free-agent add Taylor Raddysh doesn’t exactly generate buzz. Old friend Jonny Brodzinski is still around and is coming off a career-best 12-goal season. The hard truth, though, is that if Brodzinski is playing a significant number of games, it’s because the Blueshirts don’t have higher-level talent to take those minutes.

Othmann, who’s facing the biggest opportunity of his young career, represents one of those higher-level talent options. The 16th player taken in the 2021 NHL Draft looked good at times last season and seemed to gain confidence as his ice time increased. Even better, he plays the style that general manager Chris Drury and the front office are trying to instill throughout the organization: Othmann’s chip-on-his-shoulder, straight-ahead approach manifests itself in a player who attacks the net and pressures the puck all over the ice.

In theory, it’s his time to grab a wing spot on the third line. Rangers fans have been eagerly awaiting Othmann’s arrival as a regular since 2021-22, when he piled up 97 points in 66 games for the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League.

Othmann almost certainly won’t approach that level of production in the NHL. However, his throwback style and obvious offensive skills should give him the chance to begin making an impact this season — if, of course, he can win the job the Rangers presumably want him to win.

Related: Vincent Trocheck viewed as most likely to slot in at 3C on Rangers roster: poll

Rangers hope to see Gabe Perreault play his way into the lineup​

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

While the Rangers wouldn’t be upset if Perreault appears better-suited to starting the season at Hartford, their AHL farm team, after training camp, they also wouldn’t be upset if he plays his way onto the big club. Perreault profiles as a future top-six forward because of his skills and offensive creativity.

Perreault might just prove ready for such an assignment as soon as this season, and if Sullivan decides to move Mika Zibanejad back to the middle from the right-wing spot he appeared to embrace late last season, Perreault could receive a training-camp audition for the plum job. More likely, though, is that the 23rd overall pick in 2023 — who many talent evaluators felt was only selected that low because of the loaded nature of that draft — could start his NHL journey by joining Othmann as part of the third-unit solution.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

After all, this path has worked for the Rangers multiple times in recent years. Lafreniere eventually graduated from the third line to what became the unquestioned top unit for the 2023-24 season, teaming with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck on one of the most productive lines in the league. Lafreniere delivered 28 goals and 29 assists that season, though he took a serious step back in 2024-25 and will need to regain what looked like an upward trend to his career.

Cuylle made the leap last season after spending a good part of 2023-24 on the third line, becoming a top-six mainstay and turning in a 20-goal, 25-assist, 301-hit effort. He’s expected to remain fully ensconced on one of the top forward units again this season.

The Rangers would certainly love to see marked development from Othmann and Perreault with an eye toward the future, more or less following Cuylle’s path, but they also need it for the present. The Blueshirts’ hopes of returning to the postseason and championship contention depends in large part on whether they can match the depth of their competitors in the Eastern Conference. With their minimal cap space, it’s hard to see a realistic avenue to substantially improving their bottom six from outside the organization.

That means the kids are going to carry the weight of some pressure to produce in 2025-26. There are other potential youngsters who could make an impact, of course — Brett Berard, Noah Laba, Casey Terrance and Adam Sykora, among others, might surprise by competing for a spot on the roster at some point this season.

But Othmann and Perreault are the ones who possess the first-round pedigrees. Given that, it’s probably fair for the Rangers to begin to expect more from at least Othmann, and perhaps Perreault, sooner rather than later.

Source: https://www.foreverblueshirts.com/n...line-hinge-on-brennan-othmann-gabe-perreault/

 

[New York Rangers]

Rangers reportedly bringing in former Penguins forward Conor Sheary on PTO

Aaron Doster-Imagn ImagesAaron Doster-Imagn Images

Conor Sheary may get another chance to play for coach Mike Sullivan after the 33-year-old reportedly signed a professional tryout contract with the New York Rangers.

The New York Post reported the signing on Friday.

Sheary became a free agent on July 1 after the Tampa Bay Lightning had put him on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, which had one season remaining. The Bolts had signed Sheary to a three-year, $6 million contract ($2 million average annual value) on July 1, 2023.

#NYR have signed Conor Sheary to a PTO, The Post has learned.https://t.co/Bcnt71sPKA via @nypostsports

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) July 25, 2025

However, after he had just 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 57 games for Tampa Bay in 2023-24, Sheary played just five games for the Lightning last season (only one after the end of November) without scoring a point. He spent most of the season in the American Hockey League, playing 59 games for Syracuse and finishing with 61 points (20 goals, 41 assists).

Sheary reportedly had asked the Lightning to terminate his contract to get a chance to return to the NHL.

The 5-foot-8 native of Winchester, Massachusetts, has played 593 regular-season games during 10 NHL seasons, scoring 124 goals and 267 points while averaging 13:56 of ice time. He also has 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 72 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Conor Sheary (TB) on waivers to terminate contract.

Sheary had one more year at a $2M AAV, but couldn’t get one roster due to TB cap problems.

He asked to terminate to get a chance to be in NHL

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 29, 2025

Four of those playoff goals and 10 of the points came in 2016, when he helped the Penguins win the first of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with Sullivan as coach. The undrafted free agent forward had been called up by the Penguins from Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL on Dec. 15, 2015 – three days after Sullivan replaced Mike Johnson as coach – and became a useful middle-six forward for the Pens.

His best season came in 2016-17, when he scored 23 goals, finished with 53 points and was plus-24 – the only time in his career he’s hit the 20-goal and 50-point marks – to help the Penguins repeat as champions.

The Penguins traded Sheary to the Buffalo Sabres in June 2018, then reacquired him on Feb. 24, 2020. In all, Sheary played 192 games with the Penguins over two stints and four seasons — all under Sullivan – putting up 49 goals, 97 points and a plus-24 rating.

Rangers reportedly bringing in Conor Sheary on PTO​

He signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals in December 2020 and played three seasons with them before signing with Tampa Bay.

The Rangers, who signed Sullivan to a five-year contract on May 2, four days after he parted ways with the Penguins following a third-straight non-playoff season, obviously are taking a flyer on Sheary with the hope that reuniting with his old coach will help him find his game. It’s a low-risk move for the Blueshirts, who are still looking for answers on their third and fourth lines, but the onus is on him to prove that he still has something left and can contribute on an NHL roster, even in a lower-level role.

With less than $800,000 of salary-cap space remaining, according to PuckPedia, taking a free look at Sheary in training camp is good insurance in case youngsters like 20-year-old Gabe Perreault aren’t ready for the NHL. His ceiling is probably as a third-line forward.

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

However, the Rangers also have a number of young forwards, including Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Juuso Parssinen, Taylor Raddysh, Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann and Perreault who’ve played in the NHL and AHL, are already under contract and will be battling for jobs at training camp.

It’s hard to imagine Sullivan didn’t have some input on a move involving a player who played on his two Cup-winning teams, especially when the Rangers are basically getting a free look to see if Sheary can still play at the NHL level. It’s also not impossible that general manager Chris Drury has another move or two up his sleeve before camp opens in September.

Source: https://www.foreverblueshirts.com/n...-former-penguins-forward-conor-sheary-on-pto/