When the Rangers returned from winning three of four games on their recent West Coast swing, the team sent Brennan Othmann back to Hartford and recalled Jaroslav Chmelar instead.
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SIGN UP NOWChmelar (pronounced “hem-a-lash”), selected in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Draft at No. 144 overall , joined the team for a regular-season practice for the first time on Monday.
The exchange of prospects may just be an indication of the organization’s rearranged depth chart.
It’s been an impressive start to the AHL season for the 22-year-old Chmelar, who started the year on the fourth line and worked his way up to the first line in the past several games. This is in contrast to his first year as a professional last season, which he finished with the second-worst plus-minus rating in Wolf Pack history (-37).