The New York Rangers are still winless at Madison Square Garden to start the 2025-26 National Hockey League season, and the frustration over their inability to generate offense has resulted in the front office making a lineup change fans have been clamoring for.
Gabe Perreault has been recalled from Hartford Wolf Pack
The Rangers have made the decision, albeit a little bit early, to promote top prospect Gabe Perreault. New York's top prospect failed to make the main roster out of training camp, and he was sent down to Hartford to play meaningful minutes, and show what he could do. Perreault ended the 2024-25 season with the Rangers, and he appeared in five games. He made the jump from Boston College once their season ended, and he tallied 48 points (16 goals and 32 assists) in 37 games during his sophomore season.
Perreault has played quite well for the Wolf Pack, and he's scored five goals while assisting on five others for 10 points in nine games. He missed the Wolf Pack's last game with an upper body injury, but it is quite possible that he was kept out of the lineup as a precaution as the Blueshirts front office was thinking about how it wanted to proceed. The most recent loss to the New York Islanders, the seventh consecutive loss on home ice, seemingly was the last straw.
What's next for Perreault and the Rangers?
Perreault is in line to make his 2025-26 NHL debut on Monday was the Rangers take on the Nashville Predators. He already took the roster spot of Jaroslav Chmelar who was sent down to create room for Perreault, but it remains to be seen which line he will skate on. Chmelar was on the Blueshirts' fourth line, and that would be a weird spot for Perreault to be deployed. We should learn more on Monday, and hopefully this promotion has the intended effect, and Perreault is put in position to succeed.