The New York Rangers have had quite a range of experience with bottom six players in recent years, and the claim of Tye Kartye is something that gives the organization house money to play with next season. Year in and year out teams pretty much know what to expect from their star players, and the truly great teams win on the margins. The Rangers are in the midst of a transition, and Kartye could play a pretty significant role if he continues to be the player he showed to be during a brief stint on Broadway.
Expectations
Kartye was claimed off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, and the expectations for him were pretty simple. The organization was looking for him to bring some spark, physicality, and change the look of the bottom six. At the time of his waiver claim, Kartye had 180 games of NHL experience, 20 goals, 21 assists, and 41 points averaging 10:50 a night. By no means were the Rangers expecting him to be a world beater, and as we will get into shortly, he more than exceeded any expectations placed on him.
Performance
In 40 games with the Kraken, Kartye averaged 10:42 per game and had a line of three goals, five assists, and eight points. He was also a minus six while shooting 10.3 percent. After joining the Rangers, Kartye skated in 24 games while scoring five goals, he assisted on nine others, and totaled 14 points playing 14:04 per night. He posted a 48.25 GF%, a 48.79 CF%, and a 48.65 xGF%. For context that triple slash line in Seattle was 38.52%, 46.89%, and 39.17% for the respective categories.
Will Kartye shoot 18.5 percent next year with the Rangers? Absolutely not. But he doesn't have to, nor do the Rangers want him to. They will settle for any level of offense he can provide, on top of the blocked shots and hits he brings to the table. Speaking of hits, he had 75 in his 24 games with New York after tallying 98 in 40 with Seattle. That's a pace of 256 over a full 82-game season, something that checks a box for the type of hockey Mike Sullivan is looking for.
Grade: B+
Where do they go from here?
No matter what stat you look at, Kartye turned things around with the Rangers, and at $1.25 million a season is bringing the regular season impact you want from a player in his role. Barclay Goodrow was a great glue guy and playoff riser, but an expensive one at $3,641,667. Kartye will be 25 in a week, and he will enter next season with a chance to earn a spot on the third line, if he hasn't already locked one down on the fourth.
Kartye had 30 goals, 31 assists, and 61 points in 75 AHL games, and 74 goals, 82 assists for 156 points in 191 OHL games. His time in the NHL hasn't be nearly as productive, but something looked different during his short stint with the Rangers. In any case, Kartye is the perfect player for where the Rangers at in a post Letter 2.0 era, and regardless of how he plays next season, the Rangers will be no worse off considering he was a low cost and risk investment as a waiver claim.