“Watching him play, and we saw him play a couple times live and watching him play on TV, you see the hockey sense, the skill and ability,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “This is a chance for him to come and show what he can do. It’s just practice, and we’ll see where we go with it.
“I think ‘Laf’ thinks like he does and J.T. is a guy that’s been around a long time and can really help mentor somebody on the ice. It’s a starting point but I thought they looked good together.”
Perreault said it wasn’t easy for him to leave college now, but he felt the timing was right and that he was mentally ready to face the challenge he will face in the League.
The Rangers helped make his decision easier because they clearly have an expectation for him to play meaningful NHL games this season. If they didn’t, sending him to Hartford of the American Hockey League is an option, but if that were the plan, there’s no guarantee that Perreault would have left college to sign when he did.
“Some guys will come in and they’ll have an impact right away and then some guys they find a more difficult path,” Laviolette said. “The only way to find out is to find out.”
The step up in competition will be obvious to Perreault. It was in just one practice.
“It’s really super-fast,” he said.
But Perreault comes to the Rangers with a lot of big-game experience.
He won back-to-back gold medals with the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championship (2024 and 2025), finishing with 10 points in seven games each time. He played in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game last season, losing 2-0 to Denver.
“He’s played in some high-level hockey, and he’s succeeded in all of it,” Laviolette said. “This is the next step and the biggest step.”
Perreault will take it Wednesday against the Wild, getting thrown into a playoff race days after his season at Boston College ended.
The only player in New York that understands what he’s going through has only one piece of advice for him.
“Enjoy it,” Kreider said. “Enjoy it and have fun. It is a whirlwind. There is a lot of information being thrown at you, so for him it’s just go out and play and have fun.”
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