With the dust settling on the roster moves yesterday, it’s time to look forward to what the recalls of Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann can bring to the Rangers. But even before we can do that, we must acknowledge the elephant in the room: Both Perreault and Othmann need top-9 minutes or these recalls serve no purpose. These are your two most skilled prospects that fill a direct need at the NHL level. The Rangers can’t score goals, and both Perreault and Othmann can. They need the proper minutes for this to have an impact.

I read the comments on yesterday’s recall news, and I have to admit I’m disappointed how many just don’t read what’s in the actual post.

To reiterate: Making space for Perreault and Othmann by returning both Jaroslav Chmelar and Brett Berard to the AHL had absolutely nothing to do the coaching staff and their desire to play the kids. Waivers requires a 24 hour period to clear. If the Rangers waived, say, Taylor Raddysh, he wouldn’t clear/get claimed until 2pm today. That would not be enough time to get from Hartford to St. Louis in time for tonight’s game. The moves had to be from players that didn’t require waivers.

With that knowledge, it’s safe to assume that Mike Sullivan has no qualms playing the kids. It’s about who is ready and who can stick. Brett Berard looked great, but he had no points in 11 games and the Rangers need offense. So in theory Othmann can slide right into his spot on the third line with Will Cuylle and Noah Laba. Both Cuylle and Laba can create space for Othmann, who can hopefully find open ice with the puck and leverage his terrific shot to give that line an offensive jolt.

Othmann’s future is uncertain at best, as he didn’t even play in his last recall and this one seems to be somewhat forced. This is truly his last chance in New York, so he needs to step up. In his previous stints over the last two years he hasn’t done enough to show he belongs. The biggest detractor is his hesitancy to shoot the puck. It’s his one elite skill, and he needs to use it.

As for Perreault, he’s obviously going to replace Conor Sheary in the top-six. Those who are already doom-and-glooming this seem to forget that the last time he was up, the exact same thing happened. Sheary has been a placeholder on the second line due to both roster construction and underperformance of other players–Will Cuylle–in the same role. It’s best for a 12/13F like Sheary to be a placeholder than a kid who is being set up to be part of the next wave of youth. Let Cuylle grow and adjust while Sheary plugs a hole temporarily.

The top-six will likely return to what we saw before the Vancouver game, just with Perreault instead of Sheary. So I’d bank on Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere and Perreault-Trocheck-Miller as the top-six. This gives Perreault two linemates who will again create space for him. The big question for Perreault is his strength. He was bodied a bit too easily in his last recall, which is the main reason why he was reassigned to Hartford. The kid has the skill and the intelligence to stick in the NHL. He just needed to work on strength. For what it’s worth, strength takes a while to build.

As of the writing of this post, I have trust in Sully to put the kids in these roles, or at least in the top-nine. This isn’t Peter Laviolette or Gerard Gallant. Sully seems to know what most fans are finally figuring out: This isn’t the year for the Rangers. This is a transition year. The kids will play. But if they don’t, that’s a major indictment of Sully, Chris Drury, and the Rangers organization as a whole. They need to play or these recalls are simply fan service.

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