Othmann debut set for tonight
Connor Bedard won’t be the first-rounder in the Garden spotlight on Thursday night.
Instead, Chicago’s 2023 celebrated first-overall will cede the center of attention to Brennan Othmann, the Rangers’ 16th-overall selection of the 2021 draft who will make his NHL debut in this one against the Blackhawks following his recall from Hartford late Wednesday. Othmann, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday Friday, will replace Tyler Pitlick in the lineup after the checking winger sustained a lowerbody injury during Tuesday’s 6-1 defeat to Carolina. Pitlick is expected to be out for an indeterminate period. It’s “weekto-week” in the NHL’s new parlance.
It seems unlikely that Othmann, who interestingly is in the midst of a nine-game goal-scoring drought, would fill Pitlick’s role, so head coach Peter Laviolette will have to do some juggling.
He could fiddle with the bottom-six by moving Jonny Brodzinski into the middle to form a line with Othmann and Will Cuylle while Barclay Goodrow shifts to the wing on a remade checking unit with Jimmy Vesey and Nick Bonino. That was the line that was intact for eight of the club’s first 10 games. Its peripheral numbers were dreadful.
Or, Laviolette could make a far more dramatic move by elevating Othmann into the right wing spot on the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad connection while shifting Blake Wheeler into a revised bottom-six.
Othmann has recorded nine goals and 23 points in 28 games for the Wolf Pack in his first pro season. This ninegame drought has come immediately following a streak in which the lad from outside Toronto scored six goals in four games and seven goals in six games.