Brennan Othmann will be the healthy scratch for the New York Rangers tonight. He will make way in Peter Laviolette's lineup so Juuso Parssinen can enter the fray and continue to adjust to New York after his trade from the Colorado Avalanche just before the trade deadline. He's spent the last few games as the healthy extra but will get reintroduced to the lineup tonight as the Rangers take on the Calgary Flames.
Othmann making way has upset a few fans. Seeing a homegrown player that many suspects will be a key part of the top six for the foreseeable future sit for someone who has struggled to make an impact in Manhattan has ruffled a few feathers, and it makes sense. There are better options than Othmann to take out, such as Jonny Brodzinski, and have a straight swap at the fourth-line center role. That's more difficult to justify with how well Brodzinski's been playing, but there were other options.
One thing that does seem clear is that Othmann will get back into this Rangers lineup quickly. He was a first-round pick of the New York Rangers because he is so talented. He'll get looks in this lineup, and it needs to be a situation where he is moved off the fourth line. You cannot expect a scorer like Othmann to flourish in a diminished role on the fourth line, playing less than 10 minutes a game.
We'll see where this leads, but the Rangers need to be better at developing their young talents. With Gabriel Perreault coming soon, they need to ensure they've got a clear idea of how to bring these kids through and into meaningful roles on the roster. They are being buried on the fourth line, like Othmann and now Brett Berard, and it isn't going to work. They must give them the top nine roles with powerplay time, even if it is on the second unit.