There hasn’t been much communication between the New York Rangers and prospect Lias Andersson since he left the organization and was subsequently suspended, but that has started to change according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post. Brooks reports that the young forward has been communicating directly with team president John Davidson for the last ten days. That report comes after one earlier today that indicated Andersson has started skating with a low level team in Sweden as he works toward whatever future his playing career holds.
Andersson played 17 games for the Rangers and 13 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL this season but hasn’t yet lived up to the top billing he received as the seventh-overall selection in 2017. The 21-year old center made an incredible impression in his first training camp with the team after being drafted, but has since been in a sort of limbo, switching leagues and roles often.
Through 66 games at the NHL level Andersson has scored just nine points, meaning any trade out of the Rangers organization would be giving up an asset at its lowest value. Brooks notes that the Rangers have given their approval to get him skating again, though he does not suggest what the next step would be at this point.
Andersson’s entry-level contract extends through the 2020-21 season, after which he would become a restricted free agent.
Andersson & Puljujarvi are destined to be roomies sometime down the road…complete with those life-sized posters from “Teen Heartthrob”, or the like…
Saw him in Hartford, always had good shifts, but good shifts in the AHL aren’t NHL shifts. Wish the kid luck, but he didn’t produce this year. I watched Zuc and Del Zotto go back and forth from Hartford to MSG on a weekly basis, and look where those two are now. I wish this kid luck, but he needs to humble himself and perfect his craft.