Tough one because so many interesting prospects with Vesey being signed, this years draft and some of the players improving. Not counting Skjei and McIlrath as prospects because to me they showed they can play in the NHL already. 1. Ryan Graves - Said it all along. This kid is a future all-star. A stud. If he was in porno he would be John Holmes. Only Rangers hatred prevents this kid from being ranked one of the top 25 prospects in the world. Made the AHL all-star team as a rookie. Shoots just about 104 mph which would have been second at the NHL all-star game. Big, tough, solid defensively. I believe he will be our best defenseman since Leetch when he puts it all together. Clark loves him and rightly so. 2. Jimmy Vesey - He would have been number 1 but when you have the package of Graves and knowing how tough defenseman are to find that can play on the top pair, you have to be a 80 point forward to rank over Graves. Watched tape on the kid. He has great hockey sense. He'll struggle a little with holding onto the puck. Wish he was a right handed shot but no such luck. Impressive thing about Vesey was his point totals the last two years on teams where he was not surround by impressive offensive talent. 3. Pavel Buchnevich - Kid is a beanpole but Clark basically said the kid made plays all year given little opportunity with playing time. That's good enough to me. In Clark I trust. Rangers forwards are big, fast and strong but lack creativity which is something Vesey and this kid can add. Maybe Hayes if he gets his head out of his ass. He can be very creative. 4. Brandon Halverson - Kid is quietly becoming a stud. He carried a crap OHL team in the playoffs. His team sucked and he stood on his head. He's getting more confident by the day. Can't wait to see him in the AHL. He is getting better and better and we have the best goaltending coach in the world. 5. Robin Kovacs - Kid has the it factor. Has the speed and the shot Hagelin never did. Unlike Hagelin he doesn't need to play with fat boy Kessel to score. He's also a SOB to play against. Really liked what I saw in camp on the highlights from him. Most of our forwards couldn't hit the broad sign of a barn with their shot. 6. Ryan Gropp - Blazing speed and a heavy shot. Clark raves about this kid also and that is good enough for me. Scouting reports state he's incredibly tough with his corner work and that is something we don't have enough of from our forwards. Kreider, Vesey. Gropp, Zibanejad. You have a bunch of power forwards there which will be tough to deal with. 7. Sean Day - Every skill to be a superstar is there. Will his head ever catch up to his world class skills? I don't think we will have to wait. I want 60+ points in juniors this year. Nothing less. It's time for him to turn it around. 8. Igor Shestyorkin - Has done nothing to prove he can't be a number one goalie. Only negative is he hasn't had much KHL time due to the morons he's playing for over there. Hopefully, we really see what he can do this year. 9. Adam Huska - Allaire was raving about him. I was tempted to rank him 5 spots higher. We very well might be talking about this kid as a stud after one year of college hockey. Not sure I like him playing for Connecticut but I have a good feeling about this kid. He was unreal in the WJC's on a team that was a disgrace. So good that fans of other teams were raving about him. 10. Sergey Zborovskiy - Big, strong, solid. All scouting reports state he's getting better and better and just doesn't make many mistakes. There are always spots on NHL defense squads for players that can do that. Not flashy buy he gets it done. Really nice upside. 11. Tarmo Reunanen - You could rank him several spots higher. I believe Clark said if he didn't get hurt he would have been a first round pick. Smart and a great puck mover. Another prospect like Day that might be drawing raves with a big year this season. 12. Adam Tambellini - All this kid does is take crap. He wasn't big enough. He can't do this or that. He's a big fast center that scored 17 goals as a rookie in the AHL on a crap team. That's pretty damn good. Hopefully, he gets up to 25 G and 30 A this season. 13. Marek Hrivik - Was not a fan. However, the guy could play on a lot of NHL teams 4th lines right now. I doubt there is a spot for him. I really hope they trade the kid to a team that will use him. He can play in the NHL on a 4th line. He needs to get that opportunity. 14. Maltre Stromwall - Had a great prospect camp and the fact he's a right handed shot can only help him. If he has a 40 point year in the AHL that would be a nice, encouraging start for him. 15. Steven Fogarty - Outside chance he turns into a 4th line center. Now that he's away from Notre Dame's idiotic Torts, all defense system, maybe he will fourish. Not a Nieves fan. never have been.
Very good list. Not sure if I would consider Hrivik a prospect at this point though. I know you hate Nieves but I would put him on this list in place of Hrivik.
I would probably go PB, Vesey, Gropp, Graves and either Shest or Halv. In 2017-18 I'd expexct Gropp, Fogarty and Graves to push for spots, though the forward depth is getting very crowded. I bet they deal Fast or Jensen and maybe McIlperson at some point.
Gropp hasn't shown enough to be ranked that high. Some people might have had Morrison on the list. However, I'm not all that high on the WHL when it comes to smaller players. They seem to be able to put big numbers up there. Then struggle in the AHL. Tambellini has great size now that he's filling out so coming from the WHL to the AHL was not a huge adjustment for him than you don't face scrub goalies half the time like you do in juniors.
Steve Zipay is dumber than dogshit on the Rangers. He ranked Graves our 7th best prospect. OMG! Just stop writing Zipay and take up basket weaving. You're useless.
