GDT: 2020 NHL Entry Draft

[Zibanejbread]

Scott Wheeler on the Athletic...

10. New York Rangers
Pick: 1. Alexis Lafreniere
My ranking: No. 1 (change: none)
Pick: 19. Braden Schneider
My ranking: No. 38 (change: +18)
The Lafreniere pick was a no-brainer and for the integrity of this type of analysis, I can’t give them too many kudos for it. He’s the clearcut No. 1 prospect in the draft — and now in the league (spoiler alert for my top 50 drafted prospects ranking!). That was never really in threat. So the Rangers’ ranking here was always going to be determined by their second pick of the first round. Hit? I’ll put you in the winners circle. Miss? Taking Lafreniere first overall doesn’t have the same shine and ring to it in an honest assessment of the Rangers’ scouts’ job in Round 1.
So I didn’t love it when the Rangers moved up to take Schneider. Which isn’t to say that Schneider isn’t a standout prospect. He is in his own way. Defensively, he’s polished without the puck on his reads, gaps, and physicality. With the puck, his skills are all just good though. He’ll confidently execute his first pass. He’s capable of sidestepping shot blockers to get shots through. And despite my late-30s rating, he absolutely belonged in the first-round conversation. But he’s not going to be a power play guy and I’m not sure his defensive upside is so valuable as to pass up the playmaking of a Hendrix Lapierre, the totality of Connor Zary’s offensive package, or the craftiness of a Mavrik Bourque. Do I hate the pick? No, not really. But he wouldn’t have been my choice for a team that already has Nils Lundkvsit, Zac Jones, K’Andre Miller and Matthew Robertson as potential second-pairing options moving forward.

 

[Joey Bones]

Okay so Day 1 is done and I love what they did...

Obviously, it's hard to f*** up the 1st overall pick when there is a clear consensus to that being a player like Lafreniere. So basically for not f***ing that up, I view that as an A+.

Now I wouldn't have traded up for a player like Schneider, but he is a reliable "not sexy" stay at home that is very mobile and has an underrated offensive touch. The people calling him McIlrath 2.0 have obviously never seen him play. I think this pick has the potential to win a lot of fans over. Trouba is a close comparison, but I view him more as a better offensive potential version of Lindgren. Not to mention Gorton literally stole a pick from New Jersey, which we all love to see. I give the pick a B for now. Again I wouldn't have traded up, but that pick will glorify a tough defense core in the coming years. I'm quite excited to see Trouba, Miller, Robertson, Schneider, Lindgren, Lundkvist, and Fox a the defense for years. Jones and Hajek in there in some capacity, too. Not sure what they do with DeAngelo now.

Day 2 coming up with a lot of good players out there. Surprised that Peterka and Gunler didn't go in the 1st round and the Rangers not making a deal to get in the 2nd round. Tomorrow will be entertaining!!

 

[bbny]

Blues fan coming in peace! I just wanted to say that I really liked both your picks in the first round, and I really like what the Rangers organization has done so far. I think the Rangers will be a real powerhouse soon. Good luck going forward, and great job!

Thanks! I'm skeptical about the Lafreniere pick, but I'm going to blindly trust the Rangers brass on this one.

 

[darko]

Thanks! I'm skeptical about the Lafreniere pick, but I'm going to blindly trust the Rangers brass on this one.

What don't you like about Lafreniere?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Sure, but Schneider also isn’t going to help that for at least 2-3 years.

Based off of what exactly?

 

[Kords]

Bunch of bullies... Be nice to our guests, lest we turn into the Leafs fanbase.

 

[Tob]

Devils board cheered when we took Schneider since they wanted Perreault or Lapierre or Zary then the Shakir Mukhamadullin pick and then they realized Devils wanted Schneider at 20 and went to their next best D in a scramble

 

[bbny]

What don't you like about Lafreniere?

Sam might bungle his last name doing play-by-play.

 

[duhmetreE]

Graduated
Kakko
Chytil
Fox
Lindgren
ADA
Gauthier
Howden
Lemieux

Soon
Lafreniere
Shesterkin
K'Miller
Kravtsov
Robertson
Schneider
Lundkvist
Barron
Jones
Reunanen

This is borderline absurd

We will be over the Bonus Threshold for a while

 

[TheBloodyNine]

For sure. I’m not saying that. What I am saying is if justification for Schneider is that he will make the team harder to play again; that is not something that he will be able to help the team with right away. They need that now.

Fair enough, but the team is gonna need to be hard to play against next year and 3 years from now. Also, drafting 1st overall really makes the 19 pick a lot less important. Laf is also gonna make use harder to play against

 

[Matt Rentfree]

Sam might bungle his last name doing play-by-play.

Wait'll you hear Ken Daneyko try to say "Shakir Mukhamadullin"

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Blues fan coming in peace! I just wanted to say that I really liked both your picks in the first round, and I really like what the Rangers organization has done so far. I think the Rangers will be a real powerhouse soon. Good luck going forward, and great job!

you are a beauty. just know we were all pulling for you guys in 2019. Cheers and good luck to your team going forward!

 

[One Winged Angel]

I like Schneider himself as a player, I just don’t like trading up for him when he could have been available at 22. I don’t care that NJ took a defender right after at 20, they took a completely different type of defender that they needed more than Schneider. I also don’t like passing on Lapierre after trading up.

I get why they picked Schneider. They wanted toughness. I just have McIlrath parallels in my head. Not saying he’s going to be like McIlrath, I think he’ll be far better, but there’s some similarities in these two scenarios.

 

[Alluckks]

Interesting note about the clip of the Gorton trade phone conversation.

You can clearly see that the Devils are OTC with their pick at 18 while that call is being made.

Do the teams know in advance who is going to be taken?

Or were there 2 players that the Rangers wanted to move up for to take in front of Devils/Jackets?

 

[Tob]

Interesting note about the clip of the Gorton trade phone conversation.

You can clearly see that the Devils are OTC with their pick at 18 while that call is being made.

Do the teams know in advance who is going to be taken?

Or were there 2 players that the Rangers wanted to move up for to take in front of Devils/Jackets?

I think JD was fist pumping at the fact that the Devils didn't pick Schneider at 18 from what I can gather. It wouldn't be hard for NYR brass to figure out the Devils needed a D man badly, hence the reach for Shakira so perhaps they had a F and a D earmarked and JD was happy they chose Mercer first in case Calgary took the consensus 13th best player.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Devils board cheered when we took Schneider since they wanted Perreault or Lapierre or Zary then the Shakir Mukhamadullin pick and then they realized Devils wanted Schneider at 20 and went to their next best D in a scramble

Oh but Fitzgerald said that Schenider wasn't their guy!

If thats the case, that should scare them even more. Shakir was the 2nd worst pick of the 1st round, and this was a draft that saw Holloway go at 14!

 

[Thirty One]

Okay so Day 1 is done and I love what they did...

Obviously, it's hard to f*** up the 1st overall pick when there is a clear consensus to that being a player like Lafreniere. So basically for not f***ing that up, I view that as an A+.

Now I wouldn't have traded up for a player like Schneider, but he is a reliable "not sexy" stay at home that is very mobile and has an underrated offensive touch. The people calling him McIlrath 2.0 have obviously never seen him play. I think this pick has the potential to win a lot of fans over. Trouba is a close comparison, but I view him more as a better offensive potential version of Lindgren. Not to mention Gorton literally stole a pick from New Jersey, which we all love to see. I give the pick a B for now. Again I wouldn't have traded up, but that pick will glorify a tough defense core in the coming years. I'm quite excited to see Trouba, Miller, Robertson, Schneider, Lindgren, Lundkvist, and Fox a the defense for years. Jones and Hajek in there in some capacity, too. Not sure what they do with DeAngelo now.

Day 2 coming up with a lot of good players out there. Surprised that Peterka and Gunler didn't go in the 1st round and the Rangers not making a deal to get in the 2nd round. Tomorrow will be entertaining!!

Some here would prefer McIlrath to Trouba

 

[Joey Bones]

Interesting note about the clip of the Gorton trade phone conversation.

You can clearly see that the Devils are OTC with their pick at 18 while that call is being made.

Do the teams know in advance who is going to be taken?

Or were there 2 players that the Rangers wanted to move up for to take in front of Devils/Jackets?

The Devils had the pick before No. 19. They had No. 18 and No. 20...

 

[Joey Bones]

Some here would prefer McIlrath to Trouba

I don't know how to respond to that, lolol...

 

[TheBloodyNine]

However, would love to know what the "best" offer was for #1

 

[AlternateSideParking]

Schneider has an uphill climb to become an impact player for this organization. By the time he's ready in two years, he'll have to fight with Trouba, Fox, Lundkvist, maybe DeAngelo, and a sleeper in Skinner for that right side. The left side is loaded beyond belief -- Lindgren, Miller, Jones, Robertson, Hajek, Reunanen etc etc.

It's also been reported that NJD were not taking Schneider anyway but who knows.

Rangers have had terrible luck drafting out of the WHL the last 20+ year, if not longer. Dubinsky is the only one that really hit and that was 16 years ago.

Schneider told the Post he loves to shoot the puck but he was 40th in shots among defenseman while acting as a No. 1 on a one-line team. Only 17 assists in 60 games away from the PP and most were simple d-to-d passes or handoffs. Any reports that there are underlying puck skills should be read with caution. He plays a very simple game on the puck. He skates the puck up to center but usually dumps it in. Rangers fell in love with the skating, hitting and personality. Whatever. They got Lafreniere and that's all that matters.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Haven’t gotten the chance to read through the thread yet but what did you guys think of Laf saying he wants to play center?

 

[Savant]

The justification is they think he’s a good hockey player

No kidding.

 

[Savant]

Based off of what exactly?

Him unlikely to be on the roster in 2020-2021 season. Can’t make the team tougher if he’s not on the team.

 

[Savant]

Fair enough, but the team is gonna need to be hard to play against next year and 3 years from now. Also, drafting 1st overall really makes the 19 pick a lot less important. Laf is also gonna make use harder to play against

Sure but the team still needs to make room for him. Obviously that can happen later, but I’m not a fan of the pick. Drafting 1st enables you to take a big swing at 19/22 which would have been getting a center like Lapierre or Marat K.