Around the Farm: Rangers prospects earn World Juniors invites

Hello! I am going to be taking over the weekly Rangers prospect round-ups this season. My plan is to incorporate a couple new aspects to this coverage, including a general overview of Rangers prospect news, along with a weekly 2023 NHL Draft prospect of the week! If you have any ideas or things that would like to see, please let me know in the comments. Let’s get started.

Rangers Prospect News

There were three major news events for New York Rangers’ prospects this week. Brett Berard of Providence College had to leave last Friday’s game early with a leg injury and is expected to be sidelined until after Christmas. Fortunately, he will likely only miss a single game for the Friars, as they are scheduled to play Merrimack this Saturday before a break until December 30th. Berard is arguably the Rangers’ 2nd best forward prospect, and it is likely that he will sign with the organization after this season.

Switching our focus to World Juniors news, 2022 4th-round pick Noah Laba was selected for Team USA’s U20 World Junior Championship camp. Laba has scored 11 points in 15 games as a Freshman at Colorado College, and this is a welcome “step” in his development – I don’t consider international tournaments a signifier of development but it is worth noting that I don’t think anyone had him pegged as a roster contender before the season. He is far from a lock for the team and if he made it it would be as a fourth-liner, but it is always fun to have Rangers prospects at this event.

Finally, 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann was selected to Team Canada’s roster for the U20 World Junior Championship. Othmann’s production has slowed down since his trade to the Peterborough Petes, with 9 points in 9 games. However, I would expect his production to jump back up once he gets some puck luck – he currently has 2 goals on 37 shots for a shooting percentage of 5%, well below what you would expect for a shooter of his caliber.

Othmann will likely skate on Canada’s top line with some combination of Shane Wright, Connor Bedard, & Dylan Guenther, and will probably feature on the powerplay. Canada will be the favorite at this tournament, so mark your calendars for their games because I expect Othmann to score more than the 6 points he put up at last summer’s tournament.

2023 Draft Prospect of the Week

Quentin Musty, LW, 6’2″, 205, Sudbury Wolves (OHL), USA

After looking like he would not take a huge step forward earlier in the season, Quentin Musty erupted for 9 points in 2 games and is now a top-10 scorer in the OHL. He has points in each of his last 12 games, totaling 25 points in that span, and is living up to his first overall status from OHL Draft day. Musty is from Hamburg, New York, and played for the North Jersey Avalanche in his OHL draft season.

Musty came into the season as a borderline top-30 pick, but is solidifying his status as a day-one pick and is likely a player the Rangers could target with one of their two first-rounders. Musty is now on pace for 102 points in 66 games. He was named OHL Player of the Week for his performance last week, and you can check out some of his plays below!

Quentin Musty 2023 Draft Profile by Brennan Jerry

Liiga

• Leevi Aaltonen (KooKoo)
  • 11 GP, 3 G, 1 A, 0 PIM, +1
• Kalle Vaisanen (TPS)
  • Liiga Stats: 24 GP, 3 G, 0 A, 2 PIM, -2
  • u20 Stats: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PIM, -1

SHL

• Adam Edstrom (Rogle)
  • 14 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 31 PIM, -3

HockeyAllsvenskan

• Oliver Tarnstrom (Tingsryds)
  • HockeyAllsvenskan Stats: 12 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 2 PIM, -4
  • SHL Stats (Rogle): 13 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 0 PIM, -4

Slovakia Extraliga

• Adam Sykora (HK Nitra)
  • 18 GP, 2 G, 7 A, 4 PIM, -10

OHL

• Brennan Othmann (Peterborough Petes)
  • 25 GP, 13 G, 20 A, 39 PIM, +1
• Bryce McConnell-Barker (Soo Greyhounds)
  • 26 GP, 15 G, 15 A, 6 PIM, -3

QMJHL

• Maxim Barbashev (Moncton Wildcats)
  • 24 GP, 10 G, 8 A, 18 PIM, +5

WHL

• Talyn Boyko (Kelowna Rockets)
  • 11 GP, 3.88 GAA, .882 SV%
• Jayden Grubbe (Red Deer Rebels)
  • 25 GP, 6 G, 23 A, 35 PIM, +6
• Ryder Korczak (Moose Jaw Warriors)
  • 9 GP, 7 G, 8 A, 6 PIM, +11

 NCAA

• Hank Kempf (Cornell)
  • 9 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 0 PIM, +3
• Hugo Ollas (Merrimack)
  • 9 GP, 1.80 GAA, .925 SV%, 2 SO
• Brett Berard (Providence)
  • 16 GP, 6 G, 9 A, 25 PIM, +10
• Jaroslav Chmelar (Providence)
  • 17 GP, 6 G, 4 A, 12 PIM, +4
• Riley Hughes (Northeastern)
  • 17 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 8 PIM, -1
• Eric Ciccolini (Michigan)
  • 12 GP, 2 G, 1 A, 6 PIM, +1
• Brody Lamb (Minnesota)
  • 17 GP, 2 G, 1 A, 2 PIM, +4
• Zakary Karpa (Harvard)
  • 11 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 4 PIM, 0
• Victor Mancini (Nebraska-Omaha)
  • 11 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 4 PIM, -1
• Noah Laba (Colorado College)
  • 15 GP, 7 G, 4 A, 20 PIM, -9

Hartford Wolf Pack

Forwards

• Lauri Pajuniemi: 
  • 16 GP, 5 G, 1 A, 2 PIM, -3
• Bobby Trivigno:
  • 15 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 6 PIM, +1
• Matt Rempe:
  • 16 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 46 PIM, -3
• Karl Henriksson:
  • 18 GP, 0 G, 3 A, 4 PIM, -6
• Will Cuylle: 
  • 19 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 17 PIM, -2
• Gustav Rydahl: 
  • 13 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 12 PIM, -1
• Ryder Korczak:
  • 5 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PIM, -4

Defensemen

• Matthew Robertson: 
  • 16 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 10′ PIM, -11
• Hunter Skinner:
  • 5 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 2 PIM, -1

Goalies

• Dylan Garand:
  • 9 GP, 3.36 GAA, .895 SV%

All stats are provided by eliteprospects.com