Savant
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2013
- 39,388
- 11,997
Sjalin is the only of of those guys with a chance unless a miracle happens with Day.Crawley
Sjalin
Day
Reunanen
Zbrovskiy
Mantha
Wolcott
They've drafted like crap since 2014 when it comes to defensemen, even though I really like Sjalin and I think he eventually makes it.
This is the draft where they make up for it. First two picks should be two-way defensemen with size, good speed and smarts. And there are a lot of them. If I go by my rankings, they can walk away with both Evan Bouchard, Jared McIssac or Noah Dobson or and one of Matias Samuelsson, Rasmus Sandin or Filip Johansson with picks in the mid-1st and mid-2nd. They can grab two more in the later rounds like overagers Tommy Miller, Colin Gerber or Joey Keane, or add Stralman types in the 5th-6th like Santeri Salmela or Merrick Rippon.
The defense is the No. 1 area of weakness both at the pro and minor-league level. They have youth up front and guys like Miller and Hayes are still a few years away from their prime. Zucc can probably play until he's in his late 30s. Buch replaces Nash. Fast and Nieves are still young. Zibanejad is still 24. Kreider is 26.
Fix the defense. Kids are debuting at 19 or 20 now. Drafting high-end defense prospects and they'll be in the NHL in two years.
Don't be like stupid Jerry Reese, throwing scotch tape on a machete slash. Drafting/acquiring quality mobile defensemen -- Staal, Del Zotto, McDonagh, Sauer, Girardi, Stralman -- is what turned the Rangers from a decent team to a contender. Outside of Del Zotto all the dmen I mentioned were excellent in their prime in terms of decision making, breakouts and coverage.
Fix it. This is the draft to fix it. I swear if Gorton and Clark wreck this draft I'll never forgive them. People have been talking about this draft for 3-4 years.
I think they might be in McIssac range, but also think McIssac may be one to shoot up the draft board. I really hope they can come out of the draft with him or Smith. I am also interested where K’Andre Miller winds up.
Last edited: