Over the weekend, the Rangers recalled forward Jaroslav Chmelar and returned forward Brennan Othmann to the AHL. The move was made after Othmann had sat as a healthy scratch for most of the week, unable to hold down a spot over Conor Sheary or Taylor Raddysh. Chmelar played in last night’s 3-2 OT loss to Vegas, playing 9:01 on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Jonny Brodzinski. Chmelar looked fine. Nothing spectacular, nothing bad. Steady is good.
The “story” though, is Othmann. Othmann was recalled at the start of the week when Adam Edstrom went down with an upper body injury. Othmann never even played, which is both a product of the Rangers’ successes last week and Othmann himself. He’s now seen multiple stints with the Rangers, only to get into the lineup for one game against Calgary in October.
At this point, the Rangers need to move on from Brennan Othmann. If he can’t beat out Sheary, Raddysh, or Brodzinski, then he’s not a viable player for the Rangers. They aren’t even showcasing Othmann at this point.