The Rangers have signed free agent defenseman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout with their AHL affiliate in Hartford, the team announced. Dermott has yet to play this season after undergoing shoulder surgery last June.
He’s not more than a depth defender at this stage of his career, but Dermott is still hoping he may be able to convert a minor-league tryout into an NHL deal on a Rangers blue line that isn’t teeming with depth. He’s been fully recovered from his shoulder procedure for several months and began looking for a contract back in November. It took several months, but he’s got a pathway to one now.
A stable bottom-pairing fixture for the Maple Leafs for the first several years of his NHL career, concussion problems and various injuries have meant he’s only hit the 50-game mark once since the 2021-22 campaign. He spent that year on a two-way deal with the Coyotes and had seven points and a -14 rating in the franchise’s final season before hitting the open market once again. Dermott landed a PTO with the Oilers and converted that into a two-way deal, although he only got into 10 games before landing on waivers and being claimed by the Wild. He suited up nine times for Minnesota before being placed on waivers again, getting reclaimed by Edmonton, and being sent outright to AHL Bakersfield to finish the season.
In 19 games between the Oilers and Wild last year, Dermott did not record a point and only controlled 46.9% of shot attempts at 5-on-5, including a relative figure of -3.0%. His possession numbers were above-average in his small sample with Minnesota, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in the NHL with the Oilers after they got him back in the organization. He played just three games for Bakersfield, recording one goal and a +3 rating, before the shoulder injury rendered him unavailable.
Now 29, the 6’0″, 203-lb Dermott will be appearing in his 10th professional season when he takes the ice for Hartford. Across 348 NHL games, the lefty has 16 goals and 62 points with a +12 rating.
Why? Is this Drury’s ‘retool’ means picking every waver or non roster scratcher?
Dark decades in Rangers town comming.
Why not playin kids from Hartford like Garand, Sykora, Chmelar, Roobroeck.
they can’t play worst than 10-2 vs BOS.