The Rangers have signed forward Jaroslav Chmelar to a three-year, entry-level deal, per a team announcement. The contract is expected to begin in the 2024-25 season, although he’s eligible to finish the 2023-24 campaign on a tryout with the team’s AHL affiliate in Hartford. The New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver reported Tuesday that Chmelar would likely ink his ELC in the coming days. The deal has a cap hit of $867.5K broken down into a $775K NHL salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $57.5K games played bonus, and $80K minors salary each season, per PuckPedia.
Chmelar, 20, completed his sophomore season at Providence College on Saturday after UMass eliminated them in the Hockey East quarterfinals. Before coming stateside, the Czech power forward spent four seasons in the Finnish development system. The Rangers selected him out of Jokerit’s U-18 club in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. He also represented Czechia at the 2022 and 2023 World Junior Championships, winning the silver medal his second time around.
Chmelar had a decent freshman campaign with Providence, factoring into their middle six and only missing a handful of games due to his WJC appearance. His seven goals and 13 points in 33 games, along with a -2 rating on a team that finished with a +16 goal differential, signaled he wasn’t ready to turn pro, but few expected him to anyway. He missed roughly a third of this season with injuries but showed improvement when in the lineup, posting 15 points in 26 games along with a +7 rating that tied for third on the team.
He’ll need some seasoning in the minors, but the 6-foot-5, 220-lb winger will have NHL-ready size whenever he gets his first recall. Hartford has an eight-point cushion on a playoff spot in the AHL’s Atlantic Division with 14 games remaining in their regular season schedule, so he has a decent chance at seeing professional postseason action to close out 2023-24. Chmelar checked in at number 13 on The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s most recent ranking of Rangers prospects, a pool that’s deepest at wing with Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault both living up to their first-round pedigree thus far in their development.
Assuming Chmelar’s deal is registered for the 2024-25 campaign, he’ll reach RFA status in 2027. His ELC signing age will be recorded as 21 because he has a July birthday, meaning he’ll require waivers after three years or playing 80 NHL games, whichever comes first.