Rangers Sign Brody Lamb, Forward Joins Hartford Wolf Pack on ATO

The New York Rangers locked up one of their pressing roster decisions Thursday, signing University of Minnesota right wing Brody Lamb to a two-year entry-level contract and sending him directly to the Hartford Wolf Pack on an amateur tryout contract for the rest of this season.

The deal resolves what had been a genuine deadline situation for the Rangers. Lamb was among three unsigned prospects, along with Nathan Aspinall and Raoul Boilard, who faced a hard rights cutoff of July 1, 2026. Miss that window and New York would have lost his rights entirely. The Rangers chose not to wait.

Lamb, a fourth-round pick from the 2021 NHL Draft who will turn 23 in August, wraps up his senior season at Minnesota with 30 points in 35 games, a career high and easily his most productive collegiate campaign. For context, he set a career high in goals the prior season with 17 in 39 games, and his previous career high in points was 27, reached during his sophomore year across those same 39 games. The senior-season production finally put the points column in line with the goal-scoring ability scouts had identified for years.

He captained the Golden Gophers this season, one of three team captains, and his 14 goals and 16 assists represent the kind of two-way numbers that make sense for a winger expected to contribute at the professional level quickly. His skating and shot have drawn consistent praise. The knock, noted by multiple outlets tracking his development, has always been consistency: stretches of dominance followed by cold spells, then sudden bursts of production. His scoring patters this season illustrated that perfectly, with a four-game scoreless stretch sandwiched between a seven-point run in three games and a three-point showing in two subsequent games.

The contract structure carries a specific wrinkle worth noting: the two-year ELC begins in 2026-27, meaning Lamb's ATO stint with Hartford this spring does not burn a contract year. He joins the Wolf Pack now, gets professional reps at the AHL level, and his clock starts fresh next fall. That structure signals the Rangers view him as a legitimate prospect, not a depth filler, and it keeps him under organizational control as long as the rules allow.

Hartford gets a scorer with professional-caliber tools at a point in the season when every point in the standings matters. Lamb's addition gives the Wolf Pack another legitimate offensive option up front as the AHL regular season winds down.