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Emphasis on drafting speed and skill paying off for New York Rangers

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HF Article

Registered User
Nov 16, 2005
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It seems like a distant memory now, but just six or seven years ago, the New York Rangers had few homegrown players on their NHL roster. Big name free agents were the norm for this original six team, with few of the team's prospects ever appearing in more than one or two games on Broadway.



Over the last five years however, that has completely changed, as eight of the 23 current roster players were drafted by the Blueshirts. There are also numerous players such as Dan Girardi and Cam Talbot, who went undrafted when eligible, but were signed by the Rangers after the completion of their amateur careers and then developed in New York's system.… read more



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Donnay, at 6'7, is one of the tallest Rangers' draftees ever selected. In his final year of CHL eligibility, Donnay will likely spend an overage year in the league to continue to work on his skating and positioning.

this is wrong.. he was signed as an UFA.... he was not drafted...
 
Leslie, good article, but incomplete IMO. You left out the reason for the change in philosophy.
I know you have tons of respect for Gordie Clark, he should get some love in the article. But most importantly, 2008 coincides with Jeff Gorton coming on board. To me that's the key to the philosophy change.
 
Good article, one thing that confuses me however is the continuous theme of certain players getting called up to the NHL as soon as later this season. Just short of a getting a bunch of injuries I don't see the Rangers finding room for any of these kids this year. I am hoping they can find a way to dump Pyatt and Pouliot so guys like Kristo can get a call-up, but I'm also not sure that is the right decision if this team is trying to stay competitive for the playoffs.

If DZ is traded for a top-6 forward that would most likely push someone out of the line-up, and when Pyatt comes back Miller will probably be sent down rather than someone else getting called up.

I just don't see anyone else getting a call-up this season, short of injuries.
 
It's pretty clear this team needs to shore up its center depth. Been true for a while.

As for the lack of goalie prospects, I'm simply not that concerned with Hank and now Talbot. They are thin and HFD could use someone capable at the AHL level, but I would continue to try to get NCAA UFAs and late round picks. Save the 1st-3rd round picks for centers and more depth on defense.
 
High end skill ?? Um ok.

We've got some decent players but count me as generally unimpressed.

Not a Gordie Clark fanboy whatsoever.
 
Rangers have some good prospects but not enough depth. I think they really have reached the point where they need to hang on to their draft picks. We've got 4 guys in the CHL-4 in college and 3 in Europe (unless you want to count Pashnin--then we have 4). That's considerably less than the norm and some of these guys are not going to make it or be impact players. That's a wave of replacements 3 years from now that is going to be kind of weak.

At the pro level--we've got maybe a half dozen really worthwhile guys--McIlrath, Fast, Miller, Lindberg, Kristo, Allen and a few other maybes--Hrivik, Yogan, Kantor. That's not bad but it's not fantastic either.

Goaltending and center icemen are two areas the Rangers need to focus on in the next couple years. Between Missiaen and Stajcer the job doesn't seem to be getting done in Hartford. Our defense at the NHL level is still pretty young and we've got three prospects who look to be solid NHL players one day--McIlrath, Allen Skjei.
 
Need to restock the system. Of guys still in juniors, Europe, or NCAA, up front it's Nieves, Buch, and Duc, and on the back it's Skeji.

Guys like Anderson, Graves, Fogarty, Donnay, Skapski, etc. are all projects.
 
The Rangers have traded away many top picks in the last few years. The 2nd round pick in 2011 was included in the Tim Erixon deal along with the 2nd round pick acquired from Carolina through Washington for Bobby Sanguinetti. He is in the KHL. I read the Islanders were planning to take Sanguinetti with their #1 in 2006 before Neil Smith was hired. Smith told them to draft Kyle Okposo. The 3rd round pick in 2011 was traded to Florida for Bryan McCabe. The Rangers got a 3rd back from the Blues for Evgeni Grachev who is now in the KHL. That pick was used on Steven Fogarty. Erixon was traded in the Rick Nash deal. Erixon is having trouble breaking into the Jackets top 6 and becomes waiver eligible next season. The first round pick in 2013 was traded to Columbus in the Nash deal. The second round pick in 2013 was traded in the Ryane Clowe deal. So in a very deep 2013 draft,the Rangers didn't have a pick in the first two rounds. The Rangers had 3 3rds in 2013. You look at how many third rounders have played a game in the NHL and those players are the luck of the draw.
 
in the 5-6 months after the draft we do seem to have hit with 2 of our 3rds. both duclair and buch are having big post draft seasons so far.
 
Speed? Hagelin and Korpikoski are the fastest guys we drafted in a while imo. Skill? Def not top end skill
 
offdacrossbar said:
High end skill ?? Um ok.

We've got some decent players but count me as generally unimpressed.

Not a Gordie Clark fanboy whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. A lot to be desired with group right now.

Aside from an acquired player in Rick Nash we have no real difference makers.

Passive past first mentally guys that seem more content to let the game come to them.
 
Grachev wasn't the Kostitsyn brother who played on a line with Gagner and Kane at London. Grachev was a big time prospect in the OHL. I emailed an OHL writer about Del Zotto and Grachev who were both playing in the OHL in 08-09. I asked about the Brampton guys. He liked Grachev better than the other two. There was a game played between London and Brampton in Brampton that season. DZ had just been traded from Oshawa to Brampton. I bought the game on the OHL website. Grachev was a dominant player. The defenders couldn't contain him. Lets not have revisionist history here and say he was a product of the other two guys. Grachev didn't just play with the other two guys.

 
offdacrossbar said:
High end skill ?? Um ok.

We've got some decent players but count me as generally unimpressed.

Not a Gordie Clark fanboy whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. A lot to be desired with group right now.

Aside from an acquired player in Rick Nash we have no real difference makers.

Passive past first mentally guys that seem more content to let the game come to them.
 
Duclair and Buchnevich are both doing well this year but there is the Russian factor with Buchnevich and in Duclair's case CHL numbers don't always equate to being an NHL player--see Michael St. Croix--there were big predictions for him a couple years ago when he was making a run at the WHL scoring title. Duclair is a better skater than St. Croix but a lot comes down to heart and grit and how that's going to work out remains to be seen.

If I were to rank the non pro's:

1. Skjei
2. Nieves
3. Buchnevich
4. Duclair
5. Andersson

After that it's a pig pile with Spelling and Skapski on the bottom.

I can easily understand why HF has our prospect pool ranked as low as it has. The best case scenario is any of Skjei, Nieves, Buchnevich are two years away but it's more likely we won't see any of them for at least three. At least with them they all have good size and frames--are great skaters. Duclair is a great skater too but he's smaller.
 
eco's bones said:
Duclair and Buchnevich are both doing well this year but there is the Russian factor with Buchnevich and in Duclair's case CHL numbers don't always equate to being an NHL player--see Michael St. Croix--there were big predictions for him a couple years ago when he was making a run at the WHL scoring title. Duclair is a better skater than St. Croix but a lot comes down to heart and grit and how that's going to work out remains to be seen.

If I were to rank the non pro's:

1. Skjei
2. Nieves
3. Buchnevich
4. Duclair
5. Andersson

After that it's a pig pile with Spelling and Skapski on the bottom.

I can easily understand why HF has our prospect pool ranked as low as it has. The best case scenario is any of Skjei, Nieves, Buchnevich are two years away but it's more likely we won't see any of them for at least three. At least with them they all have good size and frames--are great skaters. Duclair is a great skater too but he's smaller.
Click to expand...

That's all true, but I'd argue our pro prospects are pretty strong with Kreider, Miller, Kristo, Lindberg, Fast, McIlrath and Allen. Hence why I think our prospect pool shouldn't be ranked that low.
 
RangerBoy said:
The Rangers have traded away many top picks in the last few years. The 2nd round pick in 2011 was included in the Tim Erixon deal along with the 2nd round pick acquired from Carolina through Washington for Bobby Sanguinetti. He is in the KHL. I read the Islanders were planning to take Sanguinetti with their #1 in 2006 before Neil Smith was hired. Smith told them to draft Kyle Okposo. The 3rd round pick in 2011 was traded to Florida for Bryan McCabe. The Rangers got a 3rd back from the Blues for Evgeni Grachev who is now in the KHL. That pick was used on Steven Fogarty. Erixon was traded in the Rick Nash deal. Erixon is having trouble breaking into the Jackets top 6 and becomes waiver eligible next season. The first round pick in 2013 was traded to Columbus in the Nash deal. The second round pick in 2013 was traded in the Ryane Clowe deal. So in a very deep 2013 draft,the Rangers didn't have a pick in the first two rounds. The Rangers had 3 3rds in 2013. You look at how many third rounders have played a game in the NHL and those players are the luck of the draw.
Click to expand...

The Clowe deal cost the 2nd + Florida's 3rd, which was the first pick in the 3rd round.
It's very possible that they could have packaged the 2nd + a combination of the 4 3rds to get a decent pick in the first round in a deep draft..
 
RangersHank said:
I said top end skill. Skill yeah but any legit 1st liners?
Click to expand...

Kreider? He certainly is playing like a 1st liner right now. It depends on how you define top end talent. If you only consider superstars as top end talent, then we have none. But a player like Kreider can be a good 1st liner if he continues his current level of play and matures further.
 
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