Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Rangers hand gritty veteran forward Andrew Desjardins a PTO

Chicago Blackhawks v Colorado Avalanche

DENVER, CO - APRIL 04: Andrew Desjardins #11 of the Chicago Blackhawks plays against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on April 4, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Getty Images

If nothing else, Andrew Desjardins finds a way to grind through a lot of NHL games, and that’s allowed him to amass 408 regular-season games and 53 postseason contests of experience, winning a Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2014-15.

The New York Rangers apparently saw enough muck-and-grinding from the 31-year-old to hand him a PTO for training camp, as Newsday’s Steve Zipay notes.

The Rangers confirmed as much in listing Desjardins on their training camp roster.

Like a younger Matt Hendricks, Desjardins’ selling points largely come down to “intangibles.”

When you can’t score a goal and only manage an assist in 46 games, as Desjardins was limited to while averaging just 9:34 per night with the Chicago Blackhawks last season, you’ll need to accept the dirty work. To his credit, he clearly earned Joel Quenneville’s respect during the 2015 Stanley Cup run, as he played in 21 playoff games, scoring four points while averaging a playoff-career-high 13:56 TOI.

It’s unclear how strong a chance Desjardins has of making the Rangers.

For those Rangers fans who are relieved to rid themselves of the Tanner Glass era, there must be at least a bit of fear (maybe including “Jaws” music) that Desjardins could serve as something of a Glass replacement for Alain Vigneault.

(Though not to the same degree as Glass, it does seem like Desjardins is willing to mix it up.)