Brett Berard played collegiate hockey at Providence College and in just one year he worked his way up to leading the league in goals for his first professional hockey team, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The 22-year-old made a bit of a splash last season in the American Hockey League, recording 25 goals and 23 assists in 71 games, which is certainly something the Rangers should be paying attention to.
In fact, in Tuesday night's friendly against the Islanders, Berard lined up on the left wing with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, a golden opportunity that not all prospects get.
Realistically, Berardo isn't on pace to make the opening day roster this season unless something unforeseen happens, but his value is clearly on the rise and an NHL debut could be just around the corner.
Berard, the 134th overall pick in 2020, is in his fifth year with the Rangers organization and was determined to make a big impression this training camp.
“I always think that every camp, but especially now after my first year as a pro,” he said after taking part in the Rangers' morning practice session in Tarrytown on Wednesday. “I'm not sure where I'm going to fit in or what the roster is going to be, but I'm just going to come out here and do my best and put my hand up and show I belong here. That's what I'm going to do and keep building on that.”
Berardo, an undersized forward who makes up for it with skill and determination, failed to complete three passes in 10 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time in the comeback win over the Isles.
Berard, who was working out in Boston this offseason, lived with his longtime best friend, Seattle Kraken center Matty Beigner. The two were linemates from age 5 through college.
This allowed Berard to train and learn from Venier, who was drafted second overall in 2021 and is entering his fourth NHL season.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Berard seems happy with how his game is performing in the AHL, but he has focused on improving his speed. In addition to summer training, Rangers skating coach Dawn Blade came to Hartford once a month last season to help out.
Spending time with the main group at training camp gave Berard the opportunity to learn from some of the Rangers' veterans, with Chris Kreider giving both Berard and Brennan Osman some tips and tricks in front of goal.
“It's pretty cool,” Berard said of learning from Kreider. “He's an unbelievable player. He's a lot of fun to watch. Even on a Tuesday night, watching him and helping your team turn things around is pretty special. He's mastered the move to score on the power play. The move to go for the goal, just redirecting it. In college, when I was at Hartford last year, I used to play on the goal line on the power play a lot. So it was cool that he taught me that, and maybe I can continue to work on it and try to score more or create more chances from there.”
Artemi Panarin, who suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday's game, did not practice Wednesday and is being evaluated day-to-day.
Laviolette declined to comment on the severity of the injury but said he hopes Panarin will be able to play one more preseason game.
Connor McKee skated along with Adam Fox in the absence of Ryan Lindgren, who the Rangers classified as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
K'Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba remained in the starting lineup, with Chad Ruhwedel and Braden Schneider pairing up, and Zach Jones also came in alongside Victor Mancini.
