New York Rangers Report Card: Vinni Lettieri

Vinni Lettieri made the New York Rangers out of training camp, but was soon Hartford-bound when he lost his scoring touch.  If Lettieri cannot put the puck in the net, his value to the team is minimal.

Vinnie Lettieri – Grade D

As we work our way through the 2018-19 New York Rangers, we come to 24-year old Vinnie Letteiri who had more than a cup of coffee with the varsity.   He spent almost a third of the season with the Blueshirts, but his best work was in the AHL.

His season

After a rookie season when he appeared in 19 games as a four-time call up from Hartford, it looked like Vinni Lettieri was off to a great start with new coach David Quinn.  Lettieri has a solid training camp and exhibition schedule and was an example of the “shoot first” and crash the net type of player Quinn is  enamored of.

While it was somewhat a surprise that Lettieri made the big club to start the season, he was helped by the injury suffered by Boo Nieves that kept him out of action at the start of the season.

Lettieri saw a lot of action on the fourth line, playing in 14 out of the first 20 games of the season.  While he didn’t get a lot of minutes each game, it was a regular shift.

In those fourteen games he totaled no points and was a minus four.  For a shoot first type of player, he had only 18 shots on goal.

Sent down to Hartford, Lettieri notched three goals and five points in four games, earning a return to the Garden in early December.  He lasted all of two games, going scoreless yet again.  He had but one shot on goal and was of no consequence to the offense so he was sent back to Hartford where he spent the next three months.

In Hartford, Lettieri is a different player. He’s a scoring machine with 48 points in 48 games including 23 goals.  That outstanding output warranted another recall, this time in March after the trade deadline and with several regular forwards out with injuries.

One could suppose that this was a last shot for Lettieri.   He played nine games, scoring one goal and adding two assists.  Quinn gave him a lot of ice, as much as 19 minutes in one game. He saw time on the power play and had better results than in his previous stints with the Blueshirts.

Why the grade

Played on the fourth line is no excuse for scoring one goal in 27 games, especially if your reputation is that you are a shooter. Lettieri is supposed to be one of those high energy guys who changes the tempo of a game when he is on the ice.  We saw some of that in 2017-18, but very little of it this season.

Making the team out of training camp, he should have built on his previous season, but instead seemed to regress.  As an arbitration eligible restricted free agent, it remains to be seen what the Rangers will do with Lettieri moving forward.  He has some value as a depth forward playing regularly in the AHL.  But two goals in 46 career NHL games is not enough.

The numbers

Games: 27
Goals: 1
Assists: 2
Points: 3
Power Play Goals: 1
Power Play Points: 2
Shooting Percentage: 2.5 %
Shots on Goal: 40
Plus / Minus: -7
PIM: 14
Hits: 41
CF%: 43.9
ATOI: 10:09

Next report card: Henrik Lundqvist