Lias Andersson to Hartford, Tim Gettinger recalled, Haley waived

Andersson’s future

Some observers feel that Andersson has not gotten a chance to show what he can do.  They point to his statistics and compare him to Brett Howden, who has gotten heavy minutes on the third line playing with Brendan Lemieux and Kaapo Kakko.

Howden has two goals and two assists in 18 games.  An interesting number regarding Howden is that he has had 33 scoring chances in his 18 games, but only 22 of those became shots on goal.  The positive is that he has had 19 high danger scoring chances this season.

Howden actually had a very productive outing versus Florida Saturday, registering five shots on goal and six high danger scoring chances.

The negative conclusion that you can draw from these numbers is that Howden is not having a lot of success in finishing.  11 of his 33 shots didn’t get through to the goal and with 19 high danger opportunities, he has only scored twice.

Quinn has relied on Howden for faceoffs, but he has been very erratic in the faceoff circle, winning 66% of his draws in the win over Nashville, and winning only 23% of his draws against Florida last Sunday.   While Andersson has taken only 88 draws compared to 242 for Howden, his winning percentage is slightly better.

The question is why Andersson was never moved up in the lineup just to see how he responds.  With the Rangers trailing Tampa 8-1 last Thursday, it seemed like a good opportunity to try that, but he remained on the fourth line.

Look at the minutes for Andersson.  He has played 84 minutes with Brendan Smith and 45 minutes with Micheal Haley.  His third highest linemate is Greg McKegg with 45 minutes.  As far as minutes with offensively gifted players, he has played seven minutes with Artemi Panarin, eight minutes with Chris Kreider, ten minutes with Kaapo Kakko and 11 minutes with Pavel Buchnevich.

It’s clear that Quinn has an issue with Andersson’s play.  After practice on October 23, he had this to say about him.  “Lias has to play faster, from play to play…he tends to kind of stand up after he does something…there ‘s not a lot of continuation within in his play…he knows that… we’ve talked about it. Those are the things he’s gonna have to do if hes gonna get more minutes and more responsibly.”

It’s clear that the coach see things in a player that other cannot, whether it be in game or in practice. In the three weeks since then, it appears Andersson hasn’t done those things.

What he can do

Lias Andersson has a lot to prove.  He should have learned a lesson from Filip Chytil who was assigned to Hartford and excelled, led the team in scoring and has won a fulltime job and key role with the Rangers.

Hartford is offensively challenged and Andersson should be given a full opportunity to play a lot of minutes on the top lines.  Last season he started the season in the AHL, was recalled and had one more mid-season stint with Hartford for a total of 36 games.  He finished with six goals and 20 points, more successful than the two goals and six points he totaled in 42 games with the Rangers.  It’s up to him to live up to the challenge and prove that he can be the player the Rangers thought they drafted.