PLAY IT CUYLLE
Hard-nosed Rangers rookie showcasing time and again why he belongs among vets
TORONTO — Will Cuylle has been a man among boys for his entire hockey career. Hovering around the same dimensions — 6-foot-3, 210 pounds — since he was a 16year-old playing for the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League, then the Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League and now the Rangers in the National Hockey League, Cuylle’s physical presence has been a constant.
That, though, does not diminish how he’s managed to be a 22-year-old man in a men’s league as a rookie in the NHL this season.
“Obviously, guys are pretty strong in this league. There’s some pretty big guys out there,” Cuylle told The Post inside the Rangers locker room at MSG Training Center. “But, I mean, I think I’m pretty strong as well — especially for a young guy. I’ve always kind of been on the bigger side.
“I’ve always taken my training very seriously. I love to work out in the summer, always very dialed in in terms of training in the summer, working out, nutrition and that kind of thing. I definitely say I’m one of the stronger guys, but there are definitely a lot of guys who are a lot stronger.
“But I think that’s just something that, over time, just keep working out, just keep getting stronger.”
The Rangers expected Cuylle to compete for a lineup spot in training camp this season, and it was clear pretty early on that the Toronto native impressed head coach Peter Laviolette. Cuylle was given ample opportunities in the preseason to show that he was NHL-ready, and he delivered with two goals and one assist in the five exhibition games he played to secure his spot.
But Cuylle’s four-game cameo a season earlier made a significant impression.
Receiving his first call-up in late January amid a goal-scoring tear in the AHL, the Rangers’ 29th-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft made the most of his limited ice time in a fourth-line role next to ex-Ranger Julien Gauthier and Wolf Pack center Jake Leschyshyn.
Golden Knights face-puncher Keegan Kolesar became Cuylle’s first NHL challenger off the second-period faceoff in just his second game under the pinwheel ceiling of Madison Square Garden.
“It was pretty crazy,” Cuylle said. “I really had no idea I kind of hit someone a little high, I guess, and he didn’t like it. I was pretty nervous, but it happened pretty fast, and after I was in the box with everyone cheering, it was pretty cool.”
The Rangers kept Cuylle around through the All-Star break and gave him two more games, in one of which he tussled with the Flames’ MacKenzie Weegar. Cuylle wanted to show off every aspect of his game to the Rangers front office, and he knew his physicality and ability to fight have always been traits that have set him apart from the rest.
That was apparent early on. It’s the sheer simplicity of Cuylle’s style of play, however, that has made the third-line wing a crucial contributor to the Rangers lineup on a game-to-game basis in his first NHL season.
Don’t expect to see Cuylle toe dragging the blue line or passing the puck between his legs to get it to the other side of his stick.
More likely, he will be pinning opponents in the corners, lighting someone up on the forecheck along the boards and serving as an imposing presence in front of the net every single game.
On a Rangers team full of elite-skilled stars who sometimes can get caught up in making the pretty play, Cuylle can be counted on to do the dirty work that doesn’t always grab headlines.
It’s been invaluable. It’s been refreshing. It’s the kind of component every team needs.
“I know what my game is and what I have to do to be successful,” said Cuylle, who has 10 goals and eight assists this season. “The way I play, which is simple, here I try to play a bit more physical and playing to that role. It’s that physicality, it’s like an energy that I try to bring every day, and I think it can be contagious at times.
“I’m not trying to do anything too complicated, I’m just trying to play my hardest every single game, be physical and keep things simple. When you do it well, it can be really effective.”
His NHL career is a mere 59 games old, but in time Cuylle should be able to translate the scoring touch — even more than he already has —that he had during his junior hockey days in the OHL. Every other part of his game has seamlessly transitioned, so why wouldn’t that part, eventually?
Cuylle posted 26 goals and 15 assists in 63 games during his first season with the Windsor Spitfires. He followed that up with 22 goals and 20 assists in one less game the next season.
When he found himself back in the OHL after a COVID-impacted 2020-21 season with the Wolf Pack, Cuylle ranked third on the Spitfires with a head-turning 80 points in 59 games, in addition to 31 points in 25 playoff games.
“The other kids, I sensed a little bit of fear when being around him because of the size he is and the capability with his strength and the hitting,” former Spitfires head coach and ex-Rangers forward Marc Savard told The Post over the phone. “I remember right after that training camp talking to him and telling him, ‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do this year,’ and he bought right in right away.
“When I say here’s what we’re going to do, I’m talking, ‘You’re going to play in the World Juniors, you’re going to get 40 goals, these are things that I see already that you’re going to be capable of doing.’ And then he accomplished everything we talked about.”
Savard named Cuylle captain, and Windsor went to the finals during that 2021-22 season.
There was a strong relationship built between Savard, Cuylle and the rest of the team’s leadership group, so much so that Savard had Cuylle over to his house for dinner when the Rangers were in Calgary earlier this season.
The Rangers had asked Savard to focus on bolstering Cuylle’s overall game. This way, his physicality and fighting abilities weren’t the only serviceable aspects of his game once he made it to the NHL.
That’s exactly what they did, which has been confirmed by Laviolette, who never misses a chance to laud Cuylle for his defensive responsibility. But the aggressive play and snarl he brings is still at the core of who Cuylle is as a hockey player.
“You know what? He couldn’t find too many guys willing [to fight him in the OHL],” said Savard, now a Flames assistant coach, “because you’re only allowed to fight three times in one season. I’m sure he used them all up, for sure, but at smart times, not just to go fight. It was in defense of a teammate or maybe some situation where we needed a spark.”
Cuylle was the kid in class watching highlight-reel bouts on hockeyfights.com instead of listening to the teacher.
There was a UFC mat in the living room of his old house, as well as punching bags. He’s a fan of welterweight Stephen Thompson because he is “a karate guy.” He’s a big pay-per-view guy.
Watching classic enforcers such as Brian McGrattan growing up was a treat for Cuylle, who has an appreciation for that brand of toughness that is hard to come by in today’s NHL. He chuckled when he mentioned the infamous 1979 Bruins and Rangers brawl at Madison Square Garden, where Bruins forward Mike Milbury memorably struck a fan with their shoe.
Lest we forget who Cuylle said he modeled his game after on draft night: Capitals agitator and public enemy No. 1 for Rangers fans, Tom Wilson.
Cuylle has multiple fights already this season, against the Sabres’ Erik Johnson, the Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway and, most recently, the Blue Jackets’ Dmitri Voronkov.
This all may be at the heart of who Cuylle is as a hockey player, but he’s been so much more than that.
And it’s only Year 1.
“He’s doing the exact same thing he was [in Hartford] as he is here,” Jonny Brodzinski said. “He’s using his body. You don’t really notice it as much as like a linemate, but then you watch the film, and then you’re like, ‘He just killed, like, five people in this game.’ You don’t really notice it just playing with him, but he’s definitely a hard player to play against, and it’s good to have him on our team.”