With the Rangers essentially in a tail spin, finding bright spots on the team has been tough. The trio of Will Cuylle, Filip Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko gets most of the positive attention. The three kids, plus Adam Edstrom, have been a much need infusion of youth into core minutes. Another bright spot has been recent call up Brett Berard, who has earned more playing time with his nose for the puck.
What makes Berard so fun to watch is how he tracks down the puck and is always in the picture of the play. That was his MO when the Rangers drafted him way back in 2020. It feels like a decade ago but also feels like yesterday since Covid messed with our sense of time. Berard brings a much needed north-south element to the Rangers lineup that is only seen in the bottom-six.
It’s rare to hear so many complain that the Rangers play too much east-west hockey, but that’s what they’ve become. In the past few seasons, it’s been fine because the team defense, while not great, was good enough and the team was converting on their chances. This year that’s changed. The goals aren’t coming and the team defense is atrocious. That’s why guys like Berard are a breath of fresh air.
Berard’s play style has endeared him to Ranger fans already, with several calls for more ice time. But, as always, the question is not about whether he deserves it, but where those 5v5 minutes would come from. Benching Reilly Smith was certainly a choice, but he’s the only guy on that line that is driving play. Benching him to play Berard is actually a sideways move, but one that would be needed if the Rangers punt this season.
Unfortunately we don’t know what Drury’s plans are for this season. We need to be patient and let this play out. If the Buffalo win last night was the start of a run, then the Rangers may not need to punt this season. The by-product of this likely means the Zibanejad line, and Smith included, begins to produce regularly. The Rangers won’t win without their stars producing. We all know this.
There are really two ways to get Berard more ice time. The first is to find him time on special teams, likely the penalty kill, but that seems unlikely since Peter Laviolette rarely plays rookies in those situations. It may be a flawed mentality, but the penalty kill is humming along and there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken. The second is to move Berard up in the lineup, but with so many wingers, that’s unlikely to happen.
If the Rangers struggle and decide to punt the season, then Smith is almost certainly trade deadline bait, meaning Berard will step into that role if/when it happens. Since we don’t know what the Rangers are at the moment, that’s unlikely. And to be frank, there’s nothing wrong with letting Berard gain confidence on a strong fourth line.
To spin this another way, letting Berard ease into his NHL career by limiting competition against isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The fourth line may get a ton of defensive zone starts, but they are also finishing most shifts in the offensive zone. That’s a huge net-win for the bottom half of the Rangers. Berard plays a critical role on that line. Sometimes, less is more. Moving Berard up the lineup counts as less is more.
Brett Berard is here to stay. There will come a time when he will be moved up in the lineup and get more 5v5 ice time. That time may not be this season, and that’s fine. Until the Rangers figure out what they are, there’s no need to force more ice time on a kid that is still learning the speed of the NHL game.
We’ve seen the Rangers jettison veterans for youth. There’s no reason to think the Rangers won’t make space for Berard in the top-nine when the time comes.
