Rangers aim to put Brett Berard in ‘right situations’ during preseason
The New York Rangers play their first preseason game on Sunday as they visit the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. While the first group of players to see game action will include a few regulars as well as a number of young players looking to make an impression, highly touted prospect Brett Berard will have to wait a while longer for some game action.
Berard did take part in the Rangers’ morning scrimmage, held at their practice facility in Tarrytown, New York, for the players who did not make the trip to Boston.
“I thought it was good,” coach Peter Laviolette said after the scrimmage. “I guess the objective and the idea was that everybody could play today. We have the one exhibition game, and not everybody can play. We’re not sending everybody to Boston, but this gave us a chance to look at each other against each other and mix up the lines a little bit, watch guys that are trying to make an impact do it against NHL players, an NHL lineup.”
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Berard waiting for ‘opportunity to show what he can do’
Berard is one of those players trying to make an impact. Last season was a great step in his development, as he was one of the offensive leaders with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ affiliate in the American Hockey League. In his first pro season, Berard scored 25 goals and finished with 48 points; he was second in goals and fifth in points among AHL rookies.
The 22-year-old is now battling to earn a roster spot with the big club.
“He’s a worker, he’s a competitor, he competes in battles, he plays with a lot of juice,” Laviolette said of the former Providence College forward. “He did have a really good year last year offensively and became somebody last year that (Hartford was) counting on as the season wound down. I think he had a good year. Coming into camp this year, I think he’s looking to make an impression, so when he does get an opportunity he’ll have that opportunity to show what he can do. We’ll put him in the right situations to do that.”
While Berard won’t be in the lineup against Boston, it sounds like he’ll get a shot at proving he is NHL-ready during camp and in some of the five remaining preseason games. One of the players he’ll be competing with is fellow rookie Brennan Othmann, who will be playing against the Bruins.
“I think it’s probably the same conversation,” Laviolette said of Othmann, the Rangers’ first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. “He had a good year last year and put up some points. He comes into camp this year, and he’ll get an opportunity to make noise as well. He is in the game today, so this will be his first crack at it.”
Othmann was right there with Berard last season, scoring 21 goals and putting up 49 points, fourth among AHL rookies. He even earned a brief callup with the Rangers, playing limited minutes across three games. Though he didn’t have any points, he did earn some shifts on New York’s top line.
Berard, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, will have to make the most of his opportunities if he wants to beat out Othmann and the rest of the young players competing for a roster spot. But even if he is sent to Hartford to start the season, he could be first in line to be called up if injuries strike.
“It’s hard to say,” Laviolette said when asked if Berard will make his NHL debut this season. “That’ll be up to him, training camp, and how that goes and where it goes from there.”
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