The phrasing, in the middle of a preseason broadcast interview, was notable from Tye Kartye.
It would’ve been understandable if he wanted to prove the Kraken wrong, and publicly stated as such, after the organization who inked him to an entry-level deal as an undrafted forward — and then watched him get named the AHL’s top rookie and climb his way to the NHL — dumped him on waivers in February.
But, Kartye said that night during the intermission interview, he wanted to prove the Rangers right for taking a chance on him instead of proving Seattle wrong.
And after a strong training camp bled into the opening five games of the regular season, where the 25-year-old has already been promoted from the fourth line to the second line, Kartye has started to validate their decision to claim him.
Head coach Mike Sullivan called him a “dog on a bone on the puck,” and Kartye’s ability to win possession — something shaping his game since juniors — has allowed him to seamlessly mesh with Pavel Dorofeyev, their $77 million offseason splash, and J.T. Miller.
“When it happened,” Kartye told The Post on Monday of getting waived, “I kinda move from the last team that I was on and I focus on the team that I’m on now — and doing everything that I can to be successful here and help the team win here.”
Kartye skated in 24 games with the Rangers last season after arriving, building some initial chemistry with Miller while collecting five goals and 14 points.
He opened training camp last month on the fourth line, producing a goal in multiple training camp scrimmages and flashing his offensive instincts again in the final exhibition — when he sent a shot past the Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov.
Then, during the win in Detroit last week, Sullivan swapped Kartye and Oliver Bjorkstrand, attempting to ignite his second line with the speed and tenacity of Kartye.
They’ve become the Rangers’ top forward combination in terms of expected goals for percentage (69.79), according to Evolving-Hockey, and sit 10th leaguewide among forward lines with at least 20 minutes together. Kartye doesn’t want to change his identity, either.
He’s relied on it since his first year in juniors with the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds, when he went from not making the team to trying to carve out a role — with his goal totals climbing from four to 25 and then 45 in his three seasons there.
The Greyhounds worked to enhance his shot, Jamie Tardif, a former Greyhounds assistant and an assistant with AHL Hartford from 2022 through last season, told The Post.
They helped it become one that could thrive in tight and high-danger areas of the ice. And along the way, Kartye developed the type of game that “can move up and down your lineup,” Tardif said.
“Whether Tye’s on a top line or a fourth line, his role and his identity as a player does not change,” Tardif said. “So everyday, Tye is a very predictable hockey player. … To me, it’s no secret why he’s in that role, he’s in the top six, because he’s predictable, he’s dependable and guys want to play with him.”
Across three years with the Kraken, Kartye skated in 180 games and collected 20 goals and 41 points while also getting his first taste of postseason hockey during the 2023 playoffs.
He went from undrafted to one of the sport’s biggest stages before, less than three years after those playoff games, hitting waivers in the middle of February with his hockey career again uncertain.
Then the Rangers gave him a fresh start. As a restricted free agent in the offseason, Kartye’s opportunity to be in the top six also doubles as an audition to play his way into the future of the organization.
Kartye likely won’t recapture the 40-goal output from his final year of juniors. He might not score with the same consistency as he did in those scrimmages and exhibitions, either.
But the Blueshirts don’t need that from him. They just need the version of Kartye that prompted Sullivan’s first tweak of the top six this season in the first place. The puck pursuit. The forecheck. The under-the-radar variables that, in turn, can help unlock the rest of the line.
“Without a doubt, we always have conversations with players like that that get moved up the lineup,” Sullivan said Monday. “ ‘Don’t change your game just because you moved up the lineup. You got moved up the lineup because of the game that you’re playing. Bring that element to the line, and everything will work.’ ”
