Rangers Recall Gabe Perreault, Assign Chmelar to Hartford
The future arrives on Broadway: Perreault gets the call as the Rangers look for scoring, energy, and maybe a little hope.
Following their fifth shutout loss at home to start the 2024-25 NHL season, the New York Rangers have recalled Gabe Perreault—their first round draft pick in the 2023 NHL draft—from the Hartford Wolf Pack. In a corresponding move, the Rangers have assigned Jaroslav Chmelar, who made his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, back to Harford.
Perreault has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in nine games for the Wolf Pack this season.
UPDATE: Gabe Perreault has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack and Jaroslav Chmelar has been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) November 9, 2025
Perreault didn’t play this weekend - he was out with an upper body injury, but was on the Wolf Pack’s road trip.
— Keegan Jarvis (@TheKeeganJarvis) November 9, 2025
Chmelař returns to Hartford after skating in a pair of games for the Rangers, highlighted by a fight with Travis Hamonic in his NHL debut.#NYR | #HartUnleashed https://t.co/7FcGzwtCWm
What role Perreault will serve, even how long he'll be up, are open questions. It's entirely possible that Perreault will only be up for a game or two until Vincent Trocheck comes off of LTIR, which could happen any day now. With Chmelar going back down, I think it's safe to assume that Adam Edstrom will be back in the lineup as well.
As for how Perreault will be deployed, my guess is that if he plays (not a guarantee) the Rangers start him out on third line with a deployment that looks something like this:
Panarin - Zibanejad - Raddysh
Cuylle - Miller - Lafrenière
Sheary - Laba - Perrault
Edstrom - Carrick - Brodzinski/Parssinen
As for how I would like them deployed...
Lafrenière - Miller - Zibanejad
Panarin - Laba - Perrault
Cuylle - Parssinen - Raddysh
Edstrom - Carrick - Brodzinski
However he's deployed and for however long he's here, it's good that he's up. The team needs offensive talent and he qualifies. The fan base needs a spark and he qualifies. The team needs to look ahead towards the future, and he is part of that future. He's not going to be a savior, he's not going to be Macklin Celebrini or Jacob Trouba and immediately dominate games with his offense, but he should help. It's good that he's here.
It is time.
