2025 Rangers Report Card: Brennan Othmann

This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2024-25 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

Expectations

Last year, Brennan Othmann came into training camp and turned some heads. No one anticipated he'd make the team, but his tenacious play combined with his puck skills saw him stick around until the final set of cuts. Othmann then played the majority of the year with the Hartford Wolf Pack and featured as one of their go-to players throughout the season. He got his cup of coffee in the NHL but hasn't been able to stick around or figure out his role quite yet.

This season Othmann was expected to challenge for a full time roster spot. However, with a crowded and talented group on the main roster, there was a bigger chance he'd go back to Hartford yet again. If this was the case, Othmann would need to focus on shoring up his game and further his development by leading the baby Rangers to a successful season and giving the Rangers no choice but to promote him when the time came.

Performance

Othmann's training camp started off similarly to the prior season's but this year he had more jump in his game. He played in every preseason game and scored a highlight reel goal on a great individual effort against the Boston Bruins. He was named the Player of the Game for the Rangers and it was beginning to look like there was a chance he was carving out a role for himself.

After the first few cuts and with the team's makeup beginning to take shape, the role that would have been available to Othmann was that of a fourth line grinder. While many were confident he could have found that aspect of his game, Othmann has always projected to be more of a scoring winger with an attitude. Through no fault of Othmann's, the team decided to go in a different direction and he was sent down to Hartford as one of the last cuts for the second year in a row. Objectively speaking, it did make sense. He would get far more playing time and would now have the time to improve on the holes in his game in lower-stakes situations.

Othmann started off the year in dominating fashion, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in his first 3 games. But late in his third game against the Bridgeport Islanders, he took a big hit and was slow to get up. He walked off the ice and later that week Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny announced he'd be out 4-6 weeks. This was tough news for the young winger who was only in his second professional season. As that timeline elapsed worse news came out indicating that he'd likely be out until at least Christmas, extending a few weeks past his initial estimated return date. During that period, the Rangers promoted Brett Berard, who was very deserving of the call-up. But it can be discouraging to high-level prospects to miss opportunities due to circumstances out of their control.

Upon his return in late December, Othmann got right back at it and scored a goal and tallied an assist in the last three games of 2024 before hitting a cold streak. The first half of January was tough for him as he notched 2 assists across 7 games. Frankly speaking, the Rangers' biggest prospect in Hartford needed to perform better. That better hockey came quickly as Othmann was able to shake off the cobwebs and score 5 goals in 6 games across the end of January.

Othmann's scoring touch stayed intact as the Rangers season fell further and further into despair. With trades being made and more on the horizon, by the end of February, the team felt it was the right time to recall Othmann to the NHL.

Othmann's time in New York was mostly uneventful, and a big reason for that was the way Laviolette deployed him in the majority of the twenty games he dressed. With a season high 13:08 TOI, Othmann saw incredibly limited minutes most nights. On top of that, he was often glued to bottom lineup players. And, for what it's worth, it's not an easy task for a prospect expected to impact the score board to do that when not given the right chances. However, not every game was like this and for a brief period of time Othmann even played with Artemi Panarin, and when featured on that line his underlying metrics were sharp.

One thing Othmann still managed to get across even in his limited time was the effort he puts in night in and night out. He forechecks hard and never stops chasing down the puck. It's only a matter of time before we see his extra effort and persistence get rewarded and prove fruitful for the Rangers.

Another excellent portion of Othmann's game that began to show itself is his desire to stir things up and then never back down. There have been plenty of players who have toed the line between agitator and goal scorer and that is Othmann's bread and butter. He plays hard and will get under your skin doing so. When you respond with physicality, he'll match that while also punishing you on the scoreboard if given the opportunity. This is something the Rangers sorely need more of.

Grades

Author Grade: C+

Banter Consensus: C+

Final Evaluation

This year, Brennan Othmann had some bad luck. He didn't make the team after a decent training camp and just when he was hitting his groove in the AHL suffered an injury that kept him out almost three months. Between the Wolf Pack and the Rangers, he only played 49 games this year.

So, you're wondering with all things considered, why did we give him such a low grade? Well Othmann is expected to score, and while he did do some of that, his production didn't take the step it was expected to. In 27 games for the Wolf Pack he scored 12 goals and 8 assists, good enough for 0.74 PPG, which is only a hundredth better than his first AHL season. That being said, we give him a little benefit of the doubt here with the weird trajectory his year took. But in 2026, Othmann's main expectation will be to play the majority of the year with the New York Rangers and finally score his first NHL goal.