The tail of Brennan Othmann with the New York Rangers continues to be disappointing.
From being called up and down from the American Hockey League, the 2021 first-round pick still has failed to salvage a full-time role with the Rangers.
The latest case of disappointment came when the Rangers called up Othmann for their four-game road trip, but he only played in one game before being scratched out of the lineup for the remaining three matchups.
The 22-year-old forward was ultimately called back down to the AHL on Sunday, capping off yet another underwhelming NHL stint.
The decision from Mike Sullivan came as he’s looking for more out of Othmann’s game and wants him to get real game action, which the Rangers can’t provide for him.
“We talked to Otter just about attention to detail, a little bit of predictability and reliability with his respect to his game away from the puck and that being an important element of him earning his way on the roster as a regular,” Sullivan said.
“The other aspect of it is, we don’t want any one player, especially young players sitting on the sidelines. He was in the West Coast trip with us. He played one of the games. We would rather see him get into game action, so he has an opportunity to learn through those experiences. He’s a young player. He’s he’s got a lot of his career in front of him, and so just balancing, if he’s not in the lineup at the NHL level, does it make sense to have him as the extra forward, or does it make sense to allow him to go back to Hartford and get into the games and play in 18-plus minutes.”
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What does the future hold for Othmann with the Rangers?
Recently, Othmann’s name has been the subject of trade rumors. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Oct. 16 that the Rangers are open to the idea of trading the 22-year-old forward, and these recent events will only ignite more speculation.
A trade certainly seems as if it could be in the cards, but for now, Othmann will continue to play big minutes in Hartford and prove himself with the hopes of eventually working his way back up to the NHL.
