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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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