Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesTye Kartye made his New York Rangers debut on Saturday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers claimed Kartye off waivers from the Seattle Kraken on Friday.
“It was pretty crazy, 24 hours,” Kartye said. “Found out at like 11 o' clock yesterday. Hustled to make a 2:45pm flight, packed what I could and then got here. It was kind of nice, just slept, woke up and came to play."
The Blueshirts reportedly like him for his size, physicality, and penalty-killing ability, and Sullivan was impressed with what he saw from Kartye on Saturday afternoon.
Playing on the third line alongside Noah Laba and Brendan Brisson against the Penguins, the 24-year-old forward recorded 12:39 minutes in the Rangers' 3-2 win over the Penguins.
“He came as advertised. (Chris Drury) talked to me about his motor and his ability to help us in the puck pursuit game, getting in on the forecheck, disrupting plays, making it hard on opponent’s breakout options, things of that nature. He has some physicality to his game,” Sullivan said of Kartye.
“We didn’t use him on the penalty kill tonight, but I would anticipate getting him involved with that moving forward. It’s just hard, we haven’t had a chance to really work with him yet with that, so I didn’t want to put him in a tough spot...For a guy that gets the news yesterday, travels all the way across the country and then has to lace them up in a 12:30 game. That’s not an easy thing to do, but I thought he played really well.”
Kartye was brought in by the Rangers in order to bring a strong defensive presence to the bottom-six forward unit.
After Saturday afternoon’s victory, Kartye elaborated on the role he anticipates playing moving forward.
“Kind of just what I did tonight: Physical, forechecking, being in good spots and hopefully chipping in on offense when I can,” Kartye said.
Kartye replaced Brennan Othmann in the lineup, who was sent down to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League on Friday.