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

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Kreider was bad in a pre-season game. So were a lot of NHL regulars.

Kreider, when he was playing poorly, was invisible.

McIlrath was all too visible in that game against Philly, in a very very bad way. I want to reiterate that it means very little, and Im glad hes having a good year in the AHL, but I was literally horrified by what I saw when he did play against some NHL competition.

 

[Jim Ramsay]

The guy hasn't even played a season yet on Rangers ice and I feel like McIlrath is going to be so unfairly scrutinized by people around here....

I don't think he will ever have the kind of offensive ability that people expect him to have for being drafted so high, but if we can have some snarl on the backend and a guy that is capable of playing a complete game (while maybe not exceed in any ONE area in particular) I will be content with the pick.

I think his mean streak and ability to NOT be a liability on the ice will actually make him a valued piece on any team in his career..... just feel like there are a lot of ranger fans that seem like they want him to fail so they can be RIGHT about him being a bad pick.

This guy is gonna have the shortest leash by these "fans"

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Kreider, when he was playing poorly, was invisible.

McIlrath was all too visible in that game against Philly, in a very very bad way. I want to reiterate that it means very little, and Im glad hes having a good year in the AHL, but I was literally horrified by what I saw when he did play against some NHL competition.

He was definitely bad in that game, but personally, I was pleased with what I saw two preseasons ago. Well, I think I was, it was a pretty long time ago, but I remember being pleasantly surprised with his skating ability.

 

[RangersHank*]

I cant wait to see McIlrath. Hopefully he gets a call up or something.

 

[offdacrossbar]

I'll try to find the interview, but Gordie Clark basically admitted he thought there were better players available but the Rangers wanted more jam/balls/gusto/snarl/truculence.

yes he did.

i know someone who works for the WHL at their offices out in calgary and they told me some stuff about mcilrath after we drafted him. all positive.

great kid, great family, great attitude and mean sob. he was a fast climber at draft time. his name had lots of sizzle. gordie was giddy on draft day. i remember that pretty clearly.

however, the fact that gordie had so much 'splainin to do after the pick tells me that the popular belief at the time was that we did in fact reach and that the pick was perhaps not the best at #10.

31:30 they thought it was a russian or fowler or gormley. pierre is flabergasted.

34:25 is pure pierre gold....

 

[RangersHank*]

In 2010 i was a member on blueshirts united and when we drafted McIlrath, the board went nuts and started calling him a bust and i got attacked for defending him. I like Mcilrath, he is a monster.

 

[The Gloaming]

I mean, Pierre told me that Kreider is Eric Lindros, and that Torey ****ing Krug is Bobby Orr X2. So, yeah.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

kreider and stepan, when drafted, both had the stuff to play in the nhl. kreider the raw size and skating and stepan the hands and hockey iq. both were good solid picks that i had no problem with whatsoever.

Wow, revisionist history at its best.

When Stepan was picked, most people had no idea who he was. He was not a safe pick at all. I was 100% right on that pick (and was one of two or three people pimping him on draft day), but he was not a safe pick in the least.

And neither was Kreider.

Gotta love the revisionist history, man.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

No need to be snotty dude, relax. Were having a conversation, not having a 12 year old girl argument. Take that somewhere else.

We have Kreider, Stepan and Hagelin. Which one is supposed to be the goal scorer? Stepan is more of a playmaker, Hagelin is a speed monster and Kreider is still a ? in a way. We don't have a young SCORING forward is what i'm saying. Kreider MIGHT be that young scorer but we dont know yet. We do know he hustles and plays hard but most of our prospects do. all i'm saying is that we lack that legit young scorer. I could care less about 2010 dude, i just used that as an example of having the chance to draft a young scorer. I like Mcilrath.

Who else did we put in the NHL and actually keep?


And this goalposts thing you mention, dude, i have no idea who you are and nor do i care for you.I'm here to talk about hockey, not argue with people. You think i'll come on here and twist things around? Sorry i dont care for you that much to do that. Lets keep the conversation going, but dont insult me, bring that to someone else. Thanks.

I love how you keep moving the goalposts. Now they have to be young scorers when they were originally just young players.

Hysterical.

It's hard to have "conversation" when you keep changing the topic and pretending like it's what you were talking about all along.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Jon. Really ? You had to go there

Big Mac will have to catch him first. Or maybe vlady just skates into him....

And this lisin fellow ? Sounds interesting. Details please.

You know as well as I do that Mac is a good skater. So I don't think he'd have a problem catching him

 

[Hunter Gathers]

You overrate our scouting tremendously. Say it, we havent got the most out of our drafts. Other people here understand that, why dont you? Maybe if management didnt screw drafts up or if they drafted better, we wouldnt be in this offensive hole we are in. now go ahead, come back with a snotty remark like a 16 year old girl

We are one of the better drafting teams in hockey.

Exactly. I really have no idea what this new guy is whining about. We are one of the better drafting teams in the league and have a lot of our own drafted players on the team.

What more could he possibly want? The only way we become "better" at drafting is to tank, since that's the only way to get the elite prospects this day and age. Not really sure how we are going to be a team constantly pumping out top line players when we are also competing for a playoff spot.

With modern scouting, it's hard to have both and I think we've been one of the few teams able to actually try and do both.

But nah. Our drafting obviously sucks.

 

[RangersHank*]

Exactly. I really have no idea what this new guy is whining about. We are one of the better drafting teams in the league and have a lot of our own drafted players on the team.

What more could he possibly want? The only way we become "better" at drafting is to tank, since that's the only way to get the elite prospects this day and age. Not really sure how we are going to be a team constantly pumping out top line players when we are also competing for a playoff spot.

With modern scouting, it's hard to have both and I think we've been one of the few teams able to actually try and do both.

But nah. Our drafting obviously sucks.

Ok. Enjoy the game

 

[RangersHank*]

I love how you keep moving the goalposts. Now they have to be young scorers when they were originally just young players.

Hysterical.

It's hard to have "conversation" when you keep changing the topic and pretending like it's what you were talking about all along.

i love how you keep saying the same **** over and over again. We have no young SCORING FORWARD IN THE SYSTEM. KREIDER ISNT THAT RIGHT NOW. UNDERSTAND? Our drafts have been ok, i'm not saying they havent been ok, but we DO need to get more out of our 1st rounders at the end of the day because we havent.

Keep laughing, youre a clown dude. Typical

 

[Hunter Gathers]

i love how you keep saying the same **** over and over again. We have no young SCORING FORWARD IN THE SYSTEM. KREIDER ISNT THAT RIGHT NOW. UNDERSTAND? Our drafts have been ok, i'm not saying they havent been ok, but we DO need to get more out of our 1st rounders at the end of the day because we havent.

Keep laughing, youre a clown dude. Typical

Except that's not what you said.

"Other than Kreider, what young forwards do we have in the NHL?" That is what you said. Then it changed. And now it changed again to scoring forwards. You keep trying to evolve what you originally said to whatever new point you are trying to make.

I'm too intelligent to fall for those low level tricks.

 

[RangersHank*]

Except that's not what you said.

"Other than Kreider, what young forwards do we have in the NHL?" That is what you said. Then it changed. And now it changed again to scoring forwards. You keep trying to evolve what you originally said to whatever new point you are trying to make.

I'm too intelligent to fall for those low level tricks.

Youre a little boy

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Exactly. I really have no idea what this new guy is whining about. We are one of the better drafting teams in the league and have a lot of our own drafted players on the team.

What more could he possibly want? The only way we become "better" at drafting is to tank, since that's the only way to get the elite prospects this day and age. Not really sure how we are going to be a team constantly pumping out top line players when we are also competing for a playoff spot.

With modern scouting, it's hard to have both and I think we've been one of the few teams able to actually try and do both.

But nah. Our drafting obviously sucks.

Same # of NHL players produced and a little more variety would be nice. Something other than good, but not great, mobile defenseman and top 6 forward tweeners would be nice...since you asked.

The tanking theory is just untrue. Plenty of other teams have drafted and developed offensive talent far superior to ours without the benefit of a top 10 pick.

 

[RangersHank*]

Same # of NHL players produced and a little more variety would be nice. Something other than good, but not great, mobile defenseman and top 6 forward tweeners would be nice...since you asked.

The tanking theory is just untrue. Plenty of other teams have drafted and developed offensive talent far superior to ours without the benefit of a top 10 pick.

Thank you. Well put.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

In 2010 i was a member on blueshirts united and when we drafted McIlrath, the board went nuts and started calling him a bust and i got attacked for defending him. I like Mcilrath, he is a monster.

The haters will come around after he removes Fantasy Sestito's or Carcillo's head from body...

 

[darko]

for a 2nd rounder, step has been progressing quite nicely.

hes streaky and his skating isnt quite what i would like, but for the most part, hes been as good or better than i ever expected when he was drafted.

hes a solid 2c at this point in his young career.

absolutely no problem with this kids overall game.

Progressing quite nicely? Lol he's been excellent value considering where he was chosen.

Go through that 2nd round of 2008 draft and see how many picks are proven NHLers let alone legit 1st liners.

 

[darko]

The haters will come around after he removes Fantasy Sestito's or Carcillo's head from body...

No they wont. Then they'll be complaining about how it took him 4-5 years to cement a spot with the big club.

 

[Leslie Treff]

Glad that this article has stimulated so much discussion.

There are several things that you should know however.

First, unlike the past, my articles are fairly heavily edited. The change happened about a year ago. Sentences are added, statements changed, etc. Also, the title is never mine. A few errors are mine; some, not. Let's leave it at that.

As far as the organization goes, I agree with the observations made here on the boards that having so many prospects in the pros is an issue. Personally, I feel that had the Rangers made a different kind of selection when they had the 10th overall a few years back, they would have been in better shape. Just suggesting, but maybe Fowler instead of McIlrath and then trading him early on for a very good young forward and a pick, which could have been a D-man.

There are several high end prospects in the organization, including Kreider. As many of you know, I think that Miller should be back in Hartford, where he could be a scorer (Hartford needs that, as does Miller). Fast, Kristo and Lindberg need time and a more offensively oriented coaching philosophy. But its not as if the talent is not there.

In any case, I expect that I will be posting on the boards a bit more often from here on in, but will still be covering the team in articles. You also can read my stuff at hockeyprospectus.com, where I cover prospects generally (I was their prospects person before Corey Pronman and am back to fill in for awhile). My twitter account is #hfnyrangers. You also can always PM me here.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Personally, I feel that had the Rangers made a different kind of selection when they had the 10th overall a few years back, they would have been in better shape. Just suggesting, but maybe Fowler instead of McIlrath and then trading him early on for a very good young forward and a pick, which could have been a D-man.

With all due respect, it's very easy to look at prior drafts from years ago and state 'they should have picked so-and-so instead of so-and-so'. Even a housewife like me on the Jersey shore can go see who was picked after our draft picks, re-arrange the draft, and turn us into a really good team.

But the draft doesn't work that way...it happens in real time, without the benefit of hindsight.

I've been wrong before - when I was pretty young I thought for sure Ric Bennett was going to be star in this league - but I've been right too.

The day after McIlraith was drafted I am all over the boards arguing that this was a brutal selection, that we should have drafted Fowler or Tarasenko instead. People were vicious in disagreeing with me...now you don't hear from them anymore. We were suffering from a lack of skill then, and we're still suffering from a lack of skill now.

Drafting McIlraith at number 10 overall made no sense whatsoever for this organization. And I said it back then, not in hindsight.

 

[Matt4776]

Wow, revisionist history at its best.

When Stepan was picked, most people had no idea who he was. He was not a safe pick at all. I was 100% right on that pick (and was one of two or three people pimping him on draft day), but he was not a safe pick in the least.

And neither was Kreider.

Gotta love the revisionist history, man.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=14500342&postcount=167

 

[Ail]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=14500342&postcount=167

Hahahaha

Pimpin ain't easy, but lying is.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=14500342&postcount=167

Pure Gold.

In the quest to be right, getting out in front of faceless draft picks is one thing, but lying about it 5 years later is a whole different level.