Cole Beaudoin technically was slated to skate in his third professional hockey game in three days against the Canucks on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
Amid Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury, the Rangers sent Beaudoin to Hartford and recalled Juuso Parssinen on Saturday in order to maximize their long-term injured reserve pool. Assigning Parssinen to the Rangers roster over Beaudoin added $308,000 to their cap and brought the organization closer to its optimal LTIR capture.
The new paper transactions rule in the collective bargaining agreement requires players sent down to appear in one game before they are eligible for a recall.
Beaudoin only took one shift for Hartford on Saturday night, but evidently it was part of the game plan.
“He played very little,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of Beaudoin, who only took one shift against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. “He’s a young guy. He has tons of energy. He didn’t play very much [Saturday] night, so that was by design. Cole’s a good player. He’s played very well for Hartford to this point. He’s deserving of the opportunity he has with us. We like his potential and where it could go.
“He’s a young guy; he’s going to make mistakes along the way, but we’ll help him through that process. Overall, we really like his game.”
The 20-year-old Beaudoin appeared unfazed by his fluctuation between the AHL and NHL.
Describing the back-and-forth as “crazy,” Beaudoin said he was happy to be back with the varsity group and that he is trying to enjoy the process of it all. He was expected to continue skating in the middle of the Rangers’ fourth line between Jaroslav Chmelar and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
In his second NHL game Friday in Washington, the Ottawa native had a “Welcome to the NHL” moment.
Beaudoin committed the turnover along the wall in the defensive zone that led to Boone Jenner’s game-winning goal in a 3-1 Capitals victory.
“It’s obviously tough,” he said of the sequence. “You never want to do that, obviously. Coming in your second NHL game, and then you do that, you feel bad for the group and [I] felt really bad, but going out in the third, just kind of trying to wash it down and still have confidence in myself to make plays.
“Obviously, it’s an unfortunate bounce there, but I have confidence in myself to make plays and know that I’m capable of playing at this level.”
The Rangers are scheduled for a day off Monday before returning to game action Tuesday against the Lightning at Madison Square Garden.
