With Brett Howden out with an injury the New York Rangers recalled Lias Andersson from Hartford. Andersson has been a top player for the Wolf Pack and is fresh off a three point AHL game on Friday. Andersson should see action centering the third line against Montreal.
Lias Andersson was sent to Hartford despite winning the Lars Sjoberg Award as top rookie in training camp. He was beaten out for a regular slot by Brett Howden who outplayed him as training camp progressed. Now Howden is injured and Andersson is going to get his shot. .
The Swede has been lighting it up in the AHL. In 14 games with Hartford, he has four goals and eight assists and is second on the team in scoring. Among AHL players younger than 21 he is first in assists and second in total points. On Friday, Andersson scored a career high three points with a goal and two assists in a loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Andersson, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2017 Entry Draft, played seven games in the NHL last season, scoring one goal and one assist. He got off to a great start in training camp, but was overshadowed by Howden and of the three rookie centers, he was the one sent to Hartford.
The key question for Andersson is whether this is a permanent move or is he just up for a game or two until Howden returns. It’s entirely possible that if he plays well it is Filip Chytil who sees a demotion to Hartford.
More roster moves coming
The Rangers surplus of centers is about to become even bigger when Boo Nieves is activated from the Injured Reserve List. Nieves has been participating in full contact practices with the team and looks to be ready to return to action. With eight centers on the NHL roster, the Rangers already have too many. The first three lines are set (at least for now). Mika Zibanejad is the top center with Vlad Namestnikov and Mats Zuccarello. Kevin Hayes is centering Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. The most consistent threesome has been Brett Howden between Jimmy Vesey and Jesper Fast.
Centering the fourth line has been Filip Chytil, Vinni Lettieri and Ryan Spooner. Chytil is seeing regular action while Lettieri and Spooner have been trading benchings.
What Boo Nieves brings to the table is size and a physical game and heseems to be a David Quinn type of player. While he isn’t a huge scoring threat, he was plus six in in 28 games last season with one goal and eight assists. Considering that between Chytil, Spooner and Lettieri have scored all of one goal and four assists in the equivalent of 36 games it is entirely possible that Nieves will get a chance to prove he can produce.
The unknown factor is Brett Howden. Although he told the New York Post Tuesday that he was feeling fine, he is not playing against Montreal. Nieves will not play on Tuesday either so the Rangers will have some interesting choices to make for the weekend back-to-back games in Detroit and Columbus. If Howden is back for those games, the Rangers could send Andersson, Nieves or Chytil to Hartford to get some playing time since none of them have to clear waivers.
If Andersson excells it could have even more longterm consequences. Kevin Hayes has been mentioned as trade bait considering his contractual status. It is entirely conceivable that the Rangers could move forward with ZIbanejad, Howden and Andersson as their top three centers if the right deal is out there. Stay tuned