C/W Gabe Perreault - Boston College, NCAA (2023, 23rd, NYR)

[2014nyr]

Sensible for the Rangers to immediately give him top-6 and PP time…but absolutely sickening to see after they bungled Lafreniere’s entry to the league.

I think having his draft year ended in feb/march, spending his entire pre-rookie summer in full lockdown before a weeklong training camp and zero preseason games were kinda significant.

There was nothing the rangers coulda done differently his rookie year that woulda allowed him to shine. He simply was not ready to be an impact player…no amount of ice time or linemates were going to change that. Like…if the leafs had started matthews on the 4th line, it woulda been pretty obvious pretty quick he had no business there. Same for edm and mcdavid. Their immediate impact wasn’t dependent on their line/ice time, their line/ice time was dependent on their demonstrating they were immediate impact players.

Gabe being 20 rather than 18 is a pretty significant difference too.

 

[Profet]

Sensible for the Rangers to immediately give him top-6 and PP time…but absolutely sickening to see after they bungled Lafreniere’s entry to the league.

He wont get PP time outside of the last 20seconds the first unit leaves after slowly meandering off the ice.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The team also needs offense, so what choice do you have? Othmann is playing on a line with Panarin and Trocheck and has 2 points in 20 NHL games. It’s not like there’s tons of options. They traded 3 of their top 9 from this year, and only got one top 9 guy back. The kids gotta play.

Laviolette essentially said to the effect of in coach speak “we suck and have nothing to lose, maybe it’ll spark us.”

Team didn’t need offense when Lafreniere came around, and I’m not saying I agreed with his usage.

 

[GAGLine]

No points but was very noticeable. He made some really good passes. 3 shots on goal in 13:38 of ice time.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He gave Brodz two grade A’s on the PP, one was saved and another off the post. Also passed up a grade A to make a pass to Laffy for probably an even better chance than he had himself, but it was barely deflected by the Wild before it got there. His shots weren’t the most threatening, but it’s at least good that he’s putting a bunch of shots on net.

You can see the skill and sense is going to lead to points probably pretty quickly. The defensive effort is good, but he’s still weak and loses board battles. Skating is probably a tiny bit weak for the NHL, but didn’t look too bad. He kind of looked his age physically, but can contribute in NHL games right away because he has other areas in spades.

Was a good debut in the NHL. I don’t think he’s going to need AHL time next season, but it wouldn’t hurt him either if that’s what the team chooses.

 

[JadedRandom]

He gave Brodz two grade A’s on the PP, one was saved and another off the post. Also passed up a grade A to make a pass to Laffy for probably an even better chance than he had himself, but it was barely deflected by the Wild before it got there. His shots weren’t the most threatening, but it’s at least good that he’s putting a bunch of shots on net.

You can see the skill and sense is going to lead to points probably pretty quickly. The defensive effort is good, but he’s still weak and loses board battles. Skating is probably a tiny bit weak for the NHL, but didn’t look too bad. He kind of looked his age physically, but can contribute in NHL games right away because he has other areas in spades.

Was a good debut in the NHL. I don’t think he’s going to need AHL time next season, but it wouldn’t hurt him either if that’s what the team chooses.

I agree with most of what you were saying.

Except that I am lower on Perreault's skating than you.

I think Perreault's skating being a bit below-average for the NHL gets compounded with his current lack of strength and ability to shield the puck on contact.

So I think that Perreault will need to work on explosiveness this offseason whilst also bulking-up physically.

Nevertheless, given the way the Rangers have traded some of their recent top-9 players Perreault will definitely have space going forward, and I likewise think he'll at least start next season with the big club barring some UFA signings.

As for his play at the NHL level and future projections, well, If Perreault adapts well and starts being able to make plays through the type of heavy contact that is everyday fare in the NHL, as well as gets his skating to a slightly-higher level, I actually think he could be a first-liner for New York.

That is not something I say lightly.

Whatever ends up happening, I wish him the best going forward. And he was an absolute slam dunk of a pick by the Rangers no mistake about it.