Prospect Info: 2024-2025 Rangers Prospects Thread (Prospect Stats in Post #1; Updated 2/3/2025)

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Canucks fan posted Dorrington video earlier in this thread. Interesting to see Dorrington mixing it up with Leonard.

The scouting report makes him seam like a nastier Emery with perhaps lower offensive upside. Anything we get from him is gravy but at least he fits an organizational need.
 
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This would be great if we actually hired a coach that would put young guys in a position to succeed.

Unfortunately there are not many, if any at all, who will play young guys over vets if their job is to win now. I think Laviolette has been a huge disappointment as coach though.
 
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This would be great if we actually hired a coach that would put young guys in a position to succeed.

No coach with aspirations of being competitive at the NHL level (as the Rangers rightfully are) is going to forgo the known (vets) for a mystery box. Their livelihoods depend on winning games, not making prospects look good in 4-5 years.
 
No coach with aspirations of being competitive at the NHL level (as the Rangers rightfully are) is going to forgo the known (vets) for a mystery box. Their livelihoods depend on winning games, not making prospects look good in 4-5 years.

There are guys who are able to balance both.

Deboer has had no problem incorporating young players in with established vets in Dallas.
 
There are guys who are able to balance both.

Deboer has had no problem incorporating young players in with established vets in Dallas.

Because he has no choice. What mid-aged players does Dallas have that deserve a spot? Counter: what prospects do the Rangers have that showed they deserved the spot over a vet like a Robertson (nearly PPG in the NHL as a 19 year old in his first season), Johnston (0.5PPG straight into the NHL as a 19 year old), or Harley?
 
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It’s why I hate this narrative, and I live in Dallas. The best players on the Stars are all either 34 or older (Seguin, Benn, Duchene, Dadonov make up nearly half of their top 9) or under 25 (Robertson, Stankoven, Johnston). The only 2 players that aren’t on the 4th line that they have on the entire roster between 25-34 are Hintz and Marchment, who are both close to 30.

DeBoer isn’t doing something novel - their roster doesn’t allow for the 25-32 year olds to play because they don’t have them - not because he’s great at “doing both.” If Lav was coaching the Stars, he’d be doing the exact same thing because those 34 year olds and those 23 year olds are what given them the best chance to win right now.

The Rangers don’t have any 19-23 year olds not currently on the roster or being “miscast” that clearly, unquestionably help the team win right now more than the vets (28-32 year olds) do.
 
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Because he has no choice. What mid-aged players does Dallas have that deserve a spot? Counter: what prospects do the Rangers have that showed they deserved the spot over a vet like a Robertson (nearly PPG in the NHL as a 19 year old in his first season), Johnston (0.5PPG straight into the NHL as a 19 year old), or Harley?

Lol of course he has a choice. No one is forcing them to play those guys.

The Rangers literally had a 1 and 2 OA who they were dicking out of ice time in lieu of the likes of Colin Blackwell and Ryan Strome. When other teams actually try to incorporate those players in with their better vets, the Rangers coaches were either saying they needed to "EARN IT" while overlooking other underperforming players that they loved (Howden, who as much as DQ loved, he actually hurt by playing as much as he did) or were throwing their young players together so he could lean on his trusty vets (Gallant.)

It took until last year for Lafreniere to get proper usage and lo and behold he responded with a strong season. Kakko was so misused and handled by Quinn that it's an injustice that DQ is still allowed to coach at this level in any capacity. Laviolette basically signed his ticket out of town because he didn't have the balls to scratch players who actually deserved it but the mis handling of him started basically a few months into his rookie season.

Harley really struggled when he came up fwiw. Notice how he didn't get buried or singled out? He was allowed to work through his shit and BOOM, Stars now have a great young defenseman.

Meanwhile we can't get our brilliant coach to budge on Ryan f***ing Lindgren who is literally unplayable but ohhhhh f*** Zac Jones if he makes a mistake.

Thats the difference between what DeBoer has done and how the young players here have been handled. He puts those kids in a position to succeed, our coaches have buried them so Colin Blackwell can get more minutes, Ryan Strome can eat PP1 time or Ryan Lindgren can be f***ing useless for 20 minutes a night
 
Lol of course he has a choice. No one is forcing them to play those guys.

The Rangers literally had a 1 and 2 OA who they were dicking out of ice time in lieu of the likes of Colin Blackwell and Ryan Strome. When other teams actually try to incorporate those players in with their better vets, the Rangers coaches were either saying they needed to "EARN IT" while overlooking other underperforming players that they loved (Howden, who as much as DQ loved, he actually hurt by playing as much as he did) or were throwing their young players together so he could lean on his trusty vets (Gallant.)

It took until last year for Lafreniere to get proper usage and lo and behold he responded with a strong season. Kakko was so misused and handled by Quinn that it's an injustice that DQ is still allowed to coach at this level in any capacity. Laviolette basically signed his ticket out of town because he didn't have the balls to scratch players who actually deserved it but the mis handling of him started basically a few months into his rookie season.

Harley really struggled when he came up fwiw. Notice how he didn't get buried or singled out? He was allowed to work through his shit and BOOM, Stars now have a great young defenseman.

Meanwhile we can't get our brilliant coach to budge on Ryan f***ing Lindgren who is literally unplayable but ohhhhh f*** Zac Jones if he makes a mistake.

Thats the difference between what DeBoer has done and how the young players here have been handled. He puts those kids in a position to succeed, our coaches have buried them so Colin Blackwell can get more minutes, Ryan Strome can eat PP1 time or Ryan Lindgren can be f***ing useless for 20 minutes a night
yup.
 
fortescue should've picked up an apple on BCs 1st goal, and then holding minor that they killed
 
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Lol of course he has a choice. No one is forcing them to play those guys.

The Rangers literally had a 1 and 2 OA who they were dicking out of ice time in lieu of the likes of Colin Blackwell and Ryan Strome. When other teams actually try to incorporate those players in with their better vets, the Rangers coaches were either saying they needed to "EARN IT" while overlooking other underperforming players that they loved (Howden, who as much as DQ loved, he actually hurt by playing as much as he did) or were throwing their young players together so he could lean on his trusty vets (Gallant.)

It took until last year for Lafreniere to get proper usage and lo and behold he responded with a strong season. Kakko was so misused and handled by Quinn that it's an injustice that DQ is still allowed to coach at this level in any capacity. Laviolette basically signed his ticket out of town because he didn't have the balls to scratch players who actually deserved it but the mis handling of him started basically a few months into his rookie season.

Harley really struggled when he came up fwiw. Notice how he didn't get buried or singled out? He was allowed to work through his shit and BOOM, Stars now have a great young defenseman.

Meanwhile we can't get our brilliant coach to budge on Ryan f***ing Lindgren who is literally unplayable but ohhhhh f*** Zac Jones if he makes a mistake.

Thats the difference between what DeBoer has done and how the young players here have been handled. He puts those kids in a position to succeed, our coaches have buried them so Colin Blackwell can get more minutes, Ryan Strome can eat PP1 time or Ryan Lindgren can be f***ing useless for 20 minutes a night

The criticisms of DeBoer before joining the Stars across the Panthers, Devils, and Sharks included that he favored vets over youth and was too stubborn to play the kids.

At what point is it on the players - the kids - to seize any opportunity to perform and do so? Amazingly, once DeBoer had a handful of kids who made it impossible to NOT play them, they play, and suddenly he’s “great at doing both.” No, those kids forced his hand.

Kakko and Laf both had many opportunities, and neither performed at a PPG pace at any point of their careers like Robertson did at 19. Hell, Kakko struggled to hit 0.5PPG years after his draft, while Johnston hit that as a 19 year old. They EARNED it. Even Jones - earn it. In practice. In how you show up. In the playing time you do get. Those three (Kakko, Laf, and Jones) have shown far less than the Dallas trio I named. That’s why they play “over the vets.” Dallas doesn’t have any vets to play over them, and they’ve outperformed the rest of the roster. Call me when the Rangers have a single kid do that, because it hasn’t been Kakko, Laf, Jones, Kravstov, Mancini, or any of the others I’ve seen this board pine after as if they were budding superstars merely held back by an incompetent coach who happens to be on of 8 coaches in history with 800+ wins at this level.

Edit: and several of these kids HAD the “play and develop the kids” coach in Quinn, and still failed to show anything close to the Dallas trio. Again, at what point do we force the kids to look inwards rather than blaming multiple coaches at the highest level?
 
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The criticisms of DeBoer before joining the Stars across the Panthers, Devils, and Sharks included that he favored vets over youth and was too stubborn to play the kids.

At what point is it on the players - the kids - to seize any opportunity to perform and do so? Amazingly, once DeBoer had a handful of kids who made it impossible to NOT play them, they play, and suddenly he’s “great at doing both.” No, those kids forced his hand.

Kakko and Laf both had many opportunities, and neither performed at a PPG pace at any point of their careers like Robertson did at 19. Hell, Kakko struggled to hit 0.5PPG years after his draft, while Johnston hit that as a 19 year old. They EARNED it. Even Jones - earn it. In practice. In how you show up. In the playing time you do get. Those three (Kakko, Laf, and Jones) have shown far less than the Dallas trio I named. That’s why they play “over the vets.” Dallas doesn’t have any vets to play over them, and they’ve outperformed the rest of the roster. Call me when the Rangers have a single kid do that, because it hasn’t been Kakko, Laf, Jones, Kravstov, Mancini, or any of the others I’ve seen this board pine after as if they were budding superstars merely held back by an incompetent coach who happens to be on of 8 coaches in history with 800+ wins at this level.

Edit: and several of these kids HAD the “play and develop the kids” coach in Quinn, and still failed to show anything close to the Dallas trio. Again, at what point do we force the kids to look inwards rather than blaming multiple coaches at the highest level?

I can't speak to what he did in Florida because I don't remember but he barely had any youth to work with in NJ. In fact the one guy who did develop there was Henrique and he was instantly strapped to Parise when he was a rookie. Beyond that who else was there that had even meaningful potential? Larsson? He played. Maybe he didn't develop into the #1 that he was projected to be but that wasn't because he didn't get opportunities.

Tedenby? He blew ass.

Same works for the Sharks who were dead in the middle of the Thornton/Marleau/Burns era. The only really meaningful prospect that came through there while he was there was Timo Meier and he turned out okay (but if a cluster f*** now, but thats well after the fact.) They had a bottom 3 ranked farm annually while he was there and guess what? Meier got his minutes.

You didn't mention Vegas out of what I assume is good faith so I appreciate that.

Quinn was anything but a play the kids coach. He may have come in with the "hope" that he'd be that guy but he ran his bench like a moron. The vets were the upperclassmen who got the majority of the minutes while the younger guys had to "EARN IT" despite the fact that some of the vets were basically journeymen castoffs. Thats the issue, it isn't that they played Zibanejad, Kreider or Panarin (Keeping/ signing those guys is another conversation entirely but they were here- of course they were going to play, those guys were good) it's the prioritization of the other mid ass (or worse) players over your #1 or 2 OA that was the issue. No f*** they didn't show as much, they didn't get the chance.

I don't need to remind you that at one point the Rangers had the top farm in the league. The prioritization should have been given to those guys. One of the biggest arguments made by the pro-Panarin group was that he would help the young kids development. It took 3 coaches and 4 f***ing seasons to get Laf regular shifts with him and when they tried Kakko there Panarin decided that he didn't want to play with him (and Quinn listened, he should have told him to f*** off and that he would play with who ever he said he was going to play with.) The one area where Kakko was any good in his rookie season was on the PP. He got taken off of pp1 for no reason. I don't think any of the HC hires under the current core have been good, but Quinn was by far the worst.

Also Robertson wasn't even in the NHL at 19? What are you even going on about?
 
I don't know for sure how Kakko and Laf would have turned out on another team being forcefed top line minutes and PP time as rookies etc but I tend to lean on the reasoning that if you coach them as rookies to be 3rd line players they're gonna develop like 3rd line players.

Kakko even said after being traded that he was coached and felt it necessary to never make mistakes with the puck, make the safe play, etc.

Thing is you can't be a good offensive player inthe NHL if you aren't trying to make plays
 
Yeah, Laba has skill for sure, but he's not a guy that at the pro level is going to score a ton of points on skill alone. He's more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of player. Someone mentioned Morgan Barron--it's the same type of thing where how his offense translates will dictate whether he's more of a pure 4th line guy or whether he can play in the middle six. Laba skates better than Barron, though, which will help, too.

I think he ends up a solid 3C option or a really good 4C, the kind you keep even if you have to pay him more than you'd like.
Does he have any sandpaper to his game?
 
That's encouraging to hear! I was curious to see him play last night on the farm but it looks like they are keeping him up with the main team for now.

Absolutely! The first thing I noticed about Dorrington when I first watched him is that he would manhandle everyone that went close to the net. Little slashes, cross-checks, all the dirty little tricks. That's why I mentioned he was mean in my first post.

If you watch the shift-by-shift videos I made, you can see how he plays and the things he's good at. There are many things he does very well for an NCAA defenseman. Things that stand out for me are his gap control and his ability to transition the puck. Whether that be through his skating, which I rate as above average for this level, or his ability to make the first pass. He is also very composed at this level and he doesn't really panic with the puck even when under pressure during the forecheck. Maybe that comes with the fact that he’s just bigger than everyone, and people bounce off of him.

Some things that I would have concerns about are his concentration on the game. This might be a bit because the guy plays so many minutes (26+ minutes IIRC) it's hard to be at 100% during every part of the game. But I think that sometimes he can be a little bit on autopilot and roam around a bit too much in his own zone. It could also be a coaching issue where they allow their defensemen to roam from position a lot, but that won't transfer well into the pros and will need to be changed, in my opinion. (This is also why I think it would benefit him turning pro next year)

All that being said, I am not a pro scout. I made those play-by-play videos so that others on the forum could see and make up their own minds on how he plays, so I would refer back to those if you guys want to form your own opinions. These are just my opinions at the end of the day.
Thank you very much.
 

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