Gabe Perreault is one of the most important players for the New York Rangers and what they hope to accomplish post Letter 2.0, and that's because of how talented and excited a young prospect he is. That's an opinion shared by most in the industry. I say most, because The Athletic's NHL Pipeline Rankings for 2026 just dropped, and one analyst continues to remain skeptical of Perreault's potential. It is an opinion that remains pretty controversial, and one that is hard to make sense of.
Perreault's rookie season went as well as you could reasonably hope for
The Rangers were a mess last season, and it was hard at times for veteran players to find their footing. Perreault started the season off in the AHL playing pretty well, and he was rightly called up to the Rangers. His first stint went pretty poorly, and back he went to Hartford for some more finishing.
His return to Hartford saw him continue to look too cool for school, and when the Blueshirts brought him back, he stayed in the NHL for good. When all was said and done, Perreault scored 12 goals and added 15 assists for 27 points in 49 games, which is on pace for 45 points in an 82 game season. That's pretty solid for a 20 year old, but some weren't impressed by his performance.
The Athletic analyst has "long-time projection concerns"
It is pretty interesting that Perreault was ranked No. 6, behind Cole Beaudoin, Liam Greentree, Nathan Aspinall, and Malcolm Spence because, "the issues on Perreault’s game are his 5-foot-11 frame and his below-average foot speed. I have concerns about his long-term projection unless the offense is so off-the-charts good, which I’m on the fence about whether it will be or not."
I already posted Perreault's top line numbers, which are pretty solid all things considered, but there are other numbers that standout from his rookie season... even more so when you compare him to his former college linemates.
Per Evolving-Hockey, Perreault also posted a 52.25 GF%, a 47.05 CF%, a 48.79x GF%, and was worth 3.8 GAR. Will Smith, for the sake of comparison had 45 points in 74 games during his rookie year with the Sharks, and also posted a 48.33 GF%, a 45.2 CF%, a 42.88 xGF%, and a 0.4 GAR. GAR is a counting stats, and despite playing in fewer games he outpaced Smith, primarily because he was a lot more sound defensively and didn't allow that to take away from his offensive contributions.
Perreault and Smith famously were teammates at Boston College, and some analysts have wondered if Perreault was simply a beneficiary of Smith, and Ryan Leonard to a certain degree. Speaking of Leonard, he finished his rookie year with 45 points in 75 games with the Capitals, along with a 61 GF%, a 45.92 CF%, a 45.16 xGF%,and a 7.6 GAR. It remains to be seen who the best of the three will be, but Perreault is off to a great start.
Perreault proved himself before, he will continue to do so for Rangers
Some analysts just can't wrap their head around Perreault, even though he's checked a lot of boxes already. This is a player who skated in 73 NCAA games and scored 35 goals while adding 73 assists for 108 points. This is also the same player who was with the U.S. National U18 team and scored 53 goals, 79 assists, and 132 points in 63 games during a single season which put him ahead of elite names include Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Clayton Keller, Patrick Kane, Cole Caufield, and the aforementioned Smith.
This latest ranking isn't the biggest surprise in the world, and while there are ways to have reasonable doubts about Perreault and what his long-term potential could be for the Rangers, the way he's talked about continues to be something that is puzzling. By no means is he a lock for top-six stardom, but to have older players with less of a track record ahead of him... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That said, sleep on Perreault at your own peril. He's been doubted many times up to this point, and it's almost as if he feeds off the criticism. With him likely to start on the top line this upcoming season... it may not take long for this latest take to look even more foolish than it already does.
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