Finally, changes in Rangers' top farm team! Long over due. Chris Drury becomes the new GM, and a coach will be named at a later date. About time.
Looks like we have pick 21 which is a few spots higher than i thought. Guess they'll go bpa but we more power forward types.
Names that come up as possible Ranger 1st round pick are: C Robert Thomas, LW Isaac Ratcliffe, D Nicolas Hague, LW Nikita Popugayev, RW Kailer Yamamoto, RW Kole Lind, LW Maxime Comtois
Thomas, right handed shot, good on draws, smart, two way player. Average skater. So no. Yamamoto. Small, 5'9, tremendous skater with a high IQ. Reports are he's got work to do on the defensive end. Righty shot. Possible. Rangers have a ton of size already up front. Ratcliffe. No. Not interested in a 6'6 wing prospect. Popugaev. No. His skating sucks. Comtois. No. Skating stinks. Lind. Excellent skater. Size. Righty shot with with legit right handed shot. Possible. No defenseman will be drafted. Period. Not what the farm needs. I believe the pick will be Shane Bowers. Lefty shot. However, excellent shot. Excellent on draws. Excellent defensively. High hockey IQ. Very strong on the puck. Excellent on deflections and rebounds. Safe, center pick. If not him then I think they go for Yamamoto.
If Yamamoto can turn into a Gaudreau type that could be a good addition. We really lack that type of quick playmaking other than what Buch might turn into. Popugaev has some intrigue to him. I've seen Bowers name mentioned in that range
The Rangers should get a nice player at 21, similar to Miller and Skjei. These picks are important, no doubt, but we also have to keep perspective. The picks we have traded in recent years have all been in the 20's. Now 1000% you want to add those players to your team, but you are not getting a dominant difference maker there barring a one off great pick. Plus the signings of Vesey and Hayes equal picks in the 20's, so that needs to be factored in as well. And we signed a bunch of kids over the past couple of months also who could fit the "late first round" mold. Point is it's great to have a first round pick again after not having one for a few years, but we need to keep perspective about what we will get, and what we have missed out on. I don't see this as a oh if we only had the 26th pick two years ago we'd be in such a better position. We never picked prior to the 20's, and even with a couple more "24th picks" this team wouldn't be in a very different spot than we are now. And to me that is a credit to how Gorton drafts (Gropp and Day and Graves could be players in the next few seasons), and his ability to sign players like Hayes, Vesey and potentially the kids he signed the past couple of months. I still like where we sit today. I think we are in a real good spot upfront. We need to move Stepan, he CANNOT be on this team come July 1, and we need to add a couple of dmen (Shatt, Smith, other). If we can do that we have a chance to be near the top again next season, and from there we'll see what happens.
Once again, you prove you have no clue how the draft works. Kucherov 5th in scoring, second round pick Marchand 5th in scoring, 3rd round pick Brent Burns, 9th in scoring, 20th pick in first round Paranin, 11th in scoring, not drafted Getzlaf, 13th in scoring, 19th pick in first round Pastrnak 18th in scoring, 25th pick in first round Benn 20th in scoring, 5th round pick Pavelski 24th in scoring, 7th round pick I could go on and on. There should be a law that Chuck can never talk about the draft. He's beyond clueless. Skjei was one of the most impactful players on our team this year and one of the more impactful young players in the league. 28th pick in the first round. Your philosophy on how to build a team is so assbackwards it's mind boggling. You've watched Duncan Keith dominate in three cup runs and your brain still thinks you can't get dominant difference makers past the first 5 picks. You've watched Datsyuk 6th round pick and Zetterberg 7th round pick dominant for years, yet you still don't get it.
First no clue who chuck is. Second thank you for actually proving my point. How many 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th and 6th and 7th round picks have there been the past 4 or 5 years, and how many turn out to be more than at best solid players...exactly. So you proved my point even though you think you are proving your point kreider...that's what makes it funny. Once again...you absolutely can get very good players with the picks you mentioned, as I clearly said above, but the odds are WAY stacked against you that you will. And even then the odds of you getting better than good solid NHL players are tiny, very very rare you get a real difference maker transcendent player in the 20's or lower. So I appreciate you proving my point kreider.
I also think it is funny you mention Getzlaf drafted in 2003. Marchand drafted in 2006. Burns drafted in 2003. Benn drafted in 2007. So that is 14 years of drafts. How many hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of picks have been made over that timeframe. Once again you exactly 1000% prove my point. So a tip of the cap to you sir for backing up what I wrote. And BTW...I absolutely want to keep those picks and make those picks in the 20's. No argument there at all. Only point is, and it clearly stands, the odds of getting real difference makers there is slim. Odds of getting good solid NHL players like Miller and Skjei is reasonable depending on who is drafting, but no lock. That's my point, and I stand by it.
Miller or Skjei may end up being an all star players in a few years, especially Skjei. They are not just solid NHL players. So yes you wont get Crosby or McDavid types in the later round/s but you can get a real difference maker if you stockpile your picks.
Gorton needs to put a team together that can win something. My god all these players they draft suck come playoff time
Just a thought............Can the Rangers get a pick in the 2nd or 3rd round? What do they have to do to get that pick?
Wow. Devils & Flyers sure stepped in shit to draft so high. NHL execs should can their method of drafting. Their way of drafting makes me sick. When does Gary Bettman leave? League needs new Commish!
