Gabe Perreault is taking big steps as the Rangers’ retool questions mount
NY Post
LOS ANGELES — The Rangers’ announcement of their plans to retool naturally coincided with Gabe Perreault’s return to the top line.
Now that the Blueshirts have decided to take a step back, recalibrate and make some personnel changes, Perreault, who did not record a point in 16:24 of action in the Rangers’ 4-3 loss to the Kings on Tuesday night, is at the top of the list of players who can be managed more strategically going forward this season. Development has long been a critique of this organization, but circumstances are looking different than previously.
Skating on the first unit with Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller for a third straight game Tuesday against the Kings, Perreault is starting to find his footing at the NHL level.
“It’s obviously nice playing with guys like that,” Perreault told The Post before the Rangers set out on the current road trip. “They’ve been here for a long time and kind of make it easy on me. Sometimes, it’s not always easy playing top line, top D-pair. It makes it harder in that sense. But I think since my first time in the top six, now I’m definitely more comfortable and more used to it, in a way. I hope to just keep getting better and more comfortable.”
The 20-year-old sure looked confident in the final minutes of regulation Monday night, when he was streaking toward the Ducks net and flipped to his backhand before Jackson LaCombe got his stick in the way at the last second.
It was a one-goal game at the time, and Perreault attacked the net like it was.
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