Brennan Othmann Opens Up About ‘Egregious’ Rangers Tenure And What Went Wrong

The New York Rangers’ Wednesday night game against the Calgary Flames will mark the first time Brennan Othmann faces off against his former team.

Othmann had high expectations upon being selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Rangers.

However, his game never quite translated to the NHL level, as he spent a large chunk of his tenure with the Blueshirts playing in the American Hockey League for the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The 23-year-old forward spent his final two seasons with the Rangers organization getting sent up and down from the AHL to the NHL, playing a total of 39 NHL games while struggling to carve out a permanent role in New York.

During the 2025-26 season, Othmann played in 17 games with the Rangers and 26 with the Wolf Pack, a stretch he described as “egregious.”

On Mar. 6, Othmann was traded to the Flames in exchange for forward prospect Jacob Battaglia.

“It was obvious that it wasn’t really gonna work out,” Othmann said of his time with the Rangers via Vincent Mercogliano of The Athletic. 

Othmann described his departure from the Rangers as a “mutual thing,” while expressing frustration with the organization over a lack of opportunity.

“Just opportunity, I feel like,” Othmann said about why it didn’t work out with the Rangers via Mollie Walker of The New York Post. “I felt like when (ex-head coach Peter Laviolette) was there, I played a couple of games with (Panarin) and (Trocheck). I thought I played really well. You lose some games and stuff changes around. And then last year, I played a few games with (Will Cuylle) and (Noah Laba), and I thought we were playing well. And then a lot of people look at the product on the ice and look at stats and stuff like that too.”

All these months following the trade, Othmann is excited about the opportunity to face off against the Rangers and his former teammates.

“I’m looking forward to playing against those guys, for sure,” Othmann said. “I think it’s going to be an exciting game for everyone, for myself too, selfishly, … a couple guys already giving it to me this morning, so it’s always fun when everyone rallies around you for a game like that.”

Despite making the Flames' opening-night roster out of training camp, Othmann played in just six games before suffering an upper-body injury on Oct. 28 against the Edmonton Oilers.

“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good anytime you sit out when you’re hurt or a healthy scratch, so just been trying to grind, get back in the lineup as fast as I can,” Othmann said. “I’m just happy to be back and a full-go…

“I thought I was playing well. I know a lot of people look at … the stat sheet at the end of games, and I know it may not look like the prettiest, but I feel like I was playing pretty good hockey. I was getting good feedback from the coaching staff.”

Likely playing in a fourth-line role on Wednesday night, Othmann will have a chip on his shoulder, and he didn’t shy away from it.

Othmann has been searching for a permanent NHL role for years with the Rangers and now has the opportunity presented right in front of him in Calgary.

“The goal at the start of the year was,” Othmann said. “To win the trade, in a sense, I guess. To make the team and prove that I am an NHL player. I think I have been doing that and I just want to keep doing that. … There’s definitely a little fire going into (Wednesday), so I’m looking forward to it.”