2025 NHL DRAFT Prospects Undrafted Free Agents

[RangersFan1994]

Worth a risk?? Center with decent size

Lucas Mercuri will not sign with Hurricanes after finishing NCAA career

The 6-foot-3 forward has 10 goals and 31 points in 38 games this season, his fourth at UMass.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

 

[Ranger Ric]

They have a few young forwards that could be really good but really only one on their NHL roster Simon Holmstrom. Cole Eiserman had a big freshman year with Boston U. Danny Nelson was very good at the WJC's. Calum Ritchie captained Canada at the WJC's and should be a really good player. After that it's pretty much pot luck---maybe a couple guys that could be bottom 6'ers which is pretty much Vermeyev's upside.

Yes there are a few players who are very promising who have not yet signed contracts. But the Islanders AHL team, is not only the worst team in the AHL, the team only has 33 points and is 26 points behind the Wolf Pack, the team Bridgeport trails. The team is dreadful with little talent. Any free agent coming in will have an opportunity for major minutes as soon as the players shows up.

 

[Ranger Ric]

Worth a risk?? Center with decent size

Lucas Mercuri will not sign with Hurricanes after finishing NCAA career

The 6-foot-3 forward has 10 goals and 31 points in 38 games this season, his fourth at UMass.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

Not a lot of production until this year. Was it his decision not to sign with Carolina? Rangers are going after bigger fish -- Luke Haymes of Dartmouth.

2021-22	UMass	NCAA
2022-23	UMass	NCAA
2023-24	UMass	NCAA
2024-25	UMass"A"	NCAA

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[Ranger Ric]

Not a lot of production until this year. Was it his decision not to sign with Carolina? Rangers are going after bigger fish -- Luke Haymes of Dartmouth.

2021-22	UMass	NCAA
2022-23	UMass	NCAA
2023-24	UMass	NCAA
2024-25	UMass"A"	NCAA

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Sorry the copy and paste did not work. Lucas Mercuri - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

 

[Ranger Ric]

Dartmouth loses tonight to Clarkson. According to Elliotte Friedman the Rangers are one of three teams pushing for Dartmouth center, Luke Haymes. Elite Prospects ranked him as the number one NCAA free agents. Also highlighted by Chris Peters and Frank Seravalli.

Luke Haymes - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Luke Haymes, 2003-07-28 Ottawa, ON, CAN Canada. Most recently in the NCAA with Dartmouth College. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[RangersFan1994]

Dartmouth loses tonight to Clarkson. According to Elliotte Friedman the Rangers are one of three teams pushing for Dartmouth center, Luke Haymes. Elite Prospects ranked him as the number one NCAA free agents. Also highlighted by Chris Peters and Frank Seravalli.

Luke Haymes - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Luke Haymes, 2003-07-28 Ottawa, ON, CAN Canada. Most recently in the NCAA with Dartmouth College. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Who are the other teams? Where did you see this? Shocked I have not seen this news.

 

[eco's bones]

Yes there are a few players who are very promising who have not yet signed contracts. But the Islanders AHL team, is not only the worst team in the AHL, the team only has 33 points and is 26 points behind the Wolf Pack, the team Bridgeport trails. The team is dreadful with little talent. Any free agent coming in will have an opportunity for major minutes as soon as the players shows up.

It's Lamoriello. He use to hold his ground on upcoming free agents back in the day when the Devils were a contender.......since moving on from there he's locked up every free agent he can with long term contracts and his NHL rosters are always old. If he's smart Barzal will play his final year next year and move on to another team.

That said at least in Eiserman and Ritchie's cases I think both of them have a shot at making the NHL without playing in Bridgeport for very long or at all. Both could potentially be first line players for them within a couple years. When that happens it should change the dynamic of that team at least a bit. Nelson looks more to me like a middle 6 guy.

 

[eco's bones]

Dartmouth loses tonight to Clarkson. According to Elliotte Friedman the Rangers are one of three teams pushing for Dartmouth center, Luke Haymes. Elite Prospects ranked him as the number one NCAA free agents. Also highlighted by Chris Peters and Frank Seravalli.

Luke Haymes - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Luke Haymes, 2003-07-28 Ottawa, ON, CAN Canada. Most recently in the NCAA with Dartmouth College. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

The Rangers might have to be ready to burn a year of his ELC and maybe even give him a few NHL games. There are enticements and I wouldn't see an issue with using them if you really really want the player. As far as this year's playoffs our chances seem remote to me anyway.

 

[Mugless]

Who are the other teams? Where did you see this? Shocked I have not seen this news.

Toronto and Tampa Bay:

Report: Leafs, Rangers, Bolts pursuing NCAA free agent Luke Haymes

The Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and Tampa Bay Lightning are among the clubs pursuing NCAA free-agent center Luke Haymes, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.Haymes is in his third year at Dartmouth College. He's tallied eight goals, 12 points, and 43 shots in 16 contests after...

www.thescore.com

 

[eco's bones]

I was thinking about Denver U. senior goalie Matt Davis today. He was a big reason why his team went all the way last year through the NCAA tournament which culminated in him shutting out Boston College in the NCAA championship game....BC a team that had the most lethal offense in college hockey last year and he made one huge save after another. A very good year this year too. He's undrafted too. Have to think some team is going to be after him.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

after a win i'm convinced we trade our 1st

Bump

 

[noncents]

We've only traded completely out of the 1st round once since Drury has been here, and even that was only because he made the condition an ECF trip rather than a SCF trip. I'd be very confident we have our pick come June

i think this one goes to me

 

[mike14]

i think this one goes to me

true.
I did mean to say 'a pick' rather than ours, which remains to be seen. But near enough ain't always good enough, and i expect we'll give this year's up.

 

[Ranger Ric]

With only 16 college teams remaining for the NCAA tournament we'll see lots of free agent signings this week from teams that were eliminated..

All of the experts have stated that they believe this is a relatively weak class of free agent players. That doesn't mean that some of these players won't have successful careers but the numbers that will are likely to be smaller than average.

Players make decisions on which offers to accept for many reasons. But one reason I keep reading about is a player's opportunity to make it to the NHL. For the Rangers, it's hard to see goalies and wingers looking at the team and its prospects and seeing a great opportunity for advancement. There's a better chance for centers and to a lessor extent defensemen.

Based on Elliotte Friedman's reporting we know that the Rangers are in the mix for Luke Haymes of Dartmouth, a big center with some offensive skills. Other available free agents centers having similar abilities are Jack Stockfish of Holy Cross and TJ Hughes of Michigan (smaller). The winger to watch out for is Liam MacLinskey of Holy Cross a tall but skinny scoring winger and Hoby Baker finalists who is from Pearl River New York and is a cousin of Drew Fortescue and those families are close.

There are a couple of left defense possibilities. But if Fortescue signs and joins Dorrington at Hartford next year it doesn't seem likely the Rangers would look to bring in a third young left defenseman. Names to look for are Trey Taylor of Clarkson, Noah Beck of Arizona State and Caleb McDonald of North Dakota. The only right defenseman I've seen any of the "experts" mention is CJ Foley of Dartmouth.

Of course the Rangers could sign someone else the team likes.

During the 2010s the Rangers signed lots of NCAA and foreign free agents to fill the weak farm system. There were a few successes such as Georgiev and Pionk and the drafted free agents, Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey. But for the most part these guys either helped Hartford or didn't have any meaningful impact. In 2020 the Rangers signed Todd Richards, Austin Reuschoff and Patrick Khodorenko and although all played in Hartford and I think Richards got a game or two with the Rangers, none of them had any NHL impact. In 2022 the Rangers signed Bobby Trivigno and Brandon Scanlin. Chris Peters had them rated as the 2nd and 4th best free agents. Trivigno is now in Europe and Scanlin has been a solid defenseman for Hartford and had one NHL game but doesn't appear that the Rangers see him as more than a guy to play if there are injuries. If the Rangers do sign anyone we should keep our expectations reasonable. But the possibility of an all round center to compete with Laba and Roobroeck would be a nice add.