Before we get to each writers’ thoughts, here is a quick summary of the selections the Rangers made:[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2678″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2679″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]George Obremski [/custom_headline][text_output]I’ll begin with an overview of my thoughts of each player the Rangers selected:
Vitali Kravtsov (1-9): Ranked 12th in Bob Mckenzie’s rankings so it’s not an extreme stretch but considering Wahlstrom & Dobson was available, I was a bit disappointed by the pick. Both Wahlstrom & Dobson are the safer pick but Kravtsov is the high risk/high reward player. Wahlstrom & Dobson are both safer picks with good, high upsides. Kravtsov is a very good skater, has great size, and the scoring ability with the potential of being a top line winger. He scored 7 points in 9 KHL games but exploded in the playoffs for Chelyabinsk with 11 points in 16 games, as an 18-year-old. He won the Alexei Cherapanov Award as the KHL’s top rookie for 2017-2018 season.
With regards to when we could expect Kravtsov to be in a Rangers jersey, it’s hard to say. He is currently under contract with his KHL team for one more year and he wants to come over as soon as possible according to a report from Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic. As been reported by Dan Rosen, Kravtsov has 1 more year left but there’s a possibility he could buy himself out of his contract and come over this season. I still think it will take a year for him to develop and then he should be NHL ready.
K’Andre Miller (1-22): Clearly, I missed something with this pick. Drew & Shawn had him ranked higher, while I had him ranked at 47. Miller has elite skating, hard-nose physical ability and high offensive ability. He played forward for most of his youth hockey career, just only turning to defense a few years ago. He’s athletic and very raw. He has an extremely high upside and given time, he could be very good offensive defensemen in the NHL. Has committed to University of Wisconsin and should play there for a few years and develop his game.
I will say this, I am not a huge fan of trading up to grab him but, like I said earlier, I had him ranked a bit lower and I feel we could have gotten him at 26. It’s also been reported that the Ducks were going to select miller at 23 and it seems like the Rangers really liked this kid, so much so that they were willing to give up a 2nd round pick to move up four spots. The more I look into this kid, however, the more I like. During the 1st round Friday night, Bob Mckenzie stated that 1 team had this kid as high as 10 and he has top pairing potential.
Nils Lundkvist (1-28): I was extremely high on Lundkvist and I wanted him at 26 in our mock drafts. He’s a fluid skater and is a mobile puck moving dman (similar to Anton Stralman). He is very confident and it showed throughout the regular season in both the SHL & the SuperElit League. He was named the best defensemen in the SuperElit league. Undersized and younger than most in this draft (Was a few months away from 2019 draft). He fits into what the league is turning into, fluid skaters, faster skaters. He will need a few years until he’s NHL ready but should develop nicely in the SHL against men.
Olof Lindbom (2-39): This is by far the most controversial pick the New York Rangers made in this year’s draft. Picked 39th overall when there was still some “first-round” talent still left available (Akil Thomas, Johnny Tychonick, Calen Addison, etc.), like all most Ranger fans, I was disappointed considering who was left. With that said Lindbom is a solid goalie prospect who put up amazing numbers in the U18 tournament (1.66 GAA, .949 SV% in 6 games) but was dreadful during the regular season (3.10 GAA, .897 SV%). Time will tell with this pick but I have faith with Benoit Allaire and his ability as a coach.
Jacob Ragnarsson (3-70): A two-way left-handed defensemen, Ragnarsson isn’t the flashiest dman but he’s a solid player with decent staking and is solid in his own end. He led all 19-year-old or younger defensemen in goals, assists & points in his respected league in Sweden. He projects to be steady defensemen who will be good in his own end but will have the ability to provide decent offense. Would have liked someone with a bit more skill but this pick is solid and I like what I’ve seen from highlights.
Joey Keane (3-88): Smooth skating defensemen who put up 44 points in 62 games with the Barrie Colts. As an overager, the pick at 88 might be a reach but Keane is a very skilled defenseman who fits into mold of a defensemen in today’s NHL. The right-handed defenseman has is a great passer and plays with a little “mean streak.” He was one of the biggest risers in the draft over the past year. I like his offensive upside and the fact that he plays with a mean streak.
Nico Gross (4-101): An offensive defenseman, Nico Gross is an above average skater who is aggressive and loves to step in on the rush. Played very well for team Switzerland in the World Juniors and showed that he is a very confident player who plays a solid 2-way game. He also has good hands and a sneaky shot. He has the ability to have his shot sneak through traffic.[/text_output]
Simon Kjellberg (6-163): Another defenseman, Kjellberg is a big left-handed defenseman. He posted 4 goals, 5 assists in the Swedish SuperElit league, wish is not very impressive. His all-around game is solid but nothing really stands out other than his bloodlines as his father played in the NHL for seven seasons.
Riley Hughes (7-216): New York Rangers acquired this pick from Carolina by sending Boston’s 2019th 7th round pick (acquired in Nash trade). Riley Hughes could be another 7th round sleeper for us (like Ty Ronning) as he has good size, skating, shot & vision. He is bit of a perimeter player and doesn’t play in the “dirty areas”. He is committed to Northeastern and should take a few years to develop his offensive & defensive game.
Outside of the “controversial” pick at 39, I think they did very well. I’m not a huge fan of giving grades for drafts, but if I were to give a grade, I would give the Rangers a B or B- grade for this year’s draft. Our day one picks are all players who have high potentials and could be top-line forwards or top-four defensemen (with Miller being a potential top-pair guy). If we didn’t have the “controversial” pick at 39, I would give the Rangers a solid B. I have no problem with picking a goalie but like I stated, there was still “first-round” talent still available and I believe we could have gotten Lindbom at a later pick. It’s always difficult to predict what 18-year-olds will do five years from now, but the future of the Rangers looks bright with the pool of prospects we added this past weekend. Time will of course tell.[/text_output][image type=”circle” float=”none” link=”true” target=”blank” info=”tooltip” info_place=”bottom” info_trigger=”hover” src=”2680″ alt=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” href=”https://www.blueshirtsbreakaway.com/” title=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” info_content=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Shawn Taggart[/custom_headline][text_output]The NHL Entry draft came and went with the Rangers stock piling up on talent during both days. While the Rangers started off day two with a head-scratcher, selecting Swedish goaltender Olaf Lindbom with their first and only pick in round two (their 48th pick was moved to Ottawa, so they could move up to 22nd, another questionable move by me), I think overall they did a fine job with the draft.
Yet, let’s look back at round one. The Rangers didn’t go the “safe” route. They didn’t take the popular names on the board that many fans were wanting the team to take but they did a really good job taking high risk, high reward players in Vitali Kravtsov, K’Andre Miller and Nils Lundkvist (a name only Sam Rosen could get confused by).
The Rangers did something that proved that they are here for the long haul with this rebuild. It’s not a retool like many fans thought, myself included. Yes, if you think that the Rangers can’t fully commit to a rebuild until Henrik Lundqvist retires is correct, but you can see that they are putting the pieces in place to at least commit to a start of a rebuild, something I don’t think fans understand.
Fans understanding that this is going to be awhile, that this is going to take some time. That this year if they squeak into the playoffs, you can thank Lundqvist for that.
Overall, my take on the first round is yes, they left Noah Dobson, Oliver Wahlstrom amongst others on the board that to me, should’ve been taken at the ninth spot. They went with someone, who this team doesn’t think will have an immediate impact in Kravtsov, yet if he asks to get bought out of his KHL contract, we may see him in North America sooner rather than later.[/text_output][image type=”circle” float=”none” link=”true” target=”blank” info=”tooltip” info_place=”bottom” info_trigger=”hover” src=”2681″ alt=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” href=”https://www.blueshirtsbreakaway.com/” title=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” info_content=”Photo Credit: Jerome Miron” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][text_output]In Miller, you’re looking at a guy who has the tools to be Brady Skjei light, but still needs to work on his defensive game, as George pointed out has been playing that position for 2 years now. So, his skills are quite raw. One thing I will say if he continues the trend of improving and continues to show that physical edge of his game, while improving on the other facets of his game I think we’ll have a very strong defenseman, who can be a top-4 guy in the future for this team.
When looking at Lundkvist, a name not to confuse you with Michael Lindqvist or Lundqvist will be fun for Sam Rosen, as I mentioned above. I do see what George is saying about Lundkvist and I will say that he does have those Stralman type skills. He should also fit in the top-4 quite nicely.
I will say this though, the Rangers have a lot of choices to go with and if they want to bring some of these guys to camp to see realistically what they’re chances are making the team this year, they should compete with guys who deserve to nervous about potentially losing a spot in the Rangers lineup.
In the end, we’ll take a look at what the Rangers done for the first pick in the second round and wonder why they left so much talent on the table.
I will say, the Rangers had a good draft, take away those two head-scratchers and they had a very good draft. Overall, I will rate the Rangers draft a B-. The first pick of the second round really put a sour taste in my mouth but not enough to throw what the Rangers did in day one in the garbage entirely and also take what they did on the rest of day two to be really concerned about the future of this team.[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Drew Way[/custom_headline][text_output]Overall, I thought the Rangers had a decent draft, and that people (at least, people on Twitter that I saw while the draft was happening) wildly overreacted to much of what occurred. Did the Rangers pass on guys I personally loved to take guys I had lower down in my rankings? Yes. Does that mean the picks they actually made were bad picks? No.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to sit here and defend every choice the Rangers made, or act like they had the perfect draft. What I will say however, is that I believe they had a very strong day one, and they also performed adequately in the final four rounds. I don’t have any defense for round two however. While I do believe people overreacted to how poor the pick of Olof Lindbom was at 39 (I’ll get to why this is later), I would still give the team an F for their second round when you look at who they passed on to select Lindbom and the fact that they overpaid to move up from 26 to 22 by giving up pick 48.
According to the research I did for my piece on the cost of moving up in the draft, it should’ve only cost pick 70 and maybe a late-round selection to make that jump. I know, I know, some of you are reading this and thinking “Gorton probably offered that but Ottawa declined and demanded the 48.” My response to that: okay fine, then they should’ve stayed at 26. I saw the rumors out there that Toronto and Anaheim wanted K’Andre Miller and the Rangers felt they needed to leapfrog them to get him. Again, my thought here is, okay that’s fine, then let Toronto or Anaheim take Miller. There was plenty of other talented players on the board that I feel you can make the strong argument that the players picked at 26 and 48 are greater than only having K’Andre Miller. This isn’t a knock on Miller, I like him as a player quite a bit (more on this in a bit), it’s just more of a nitpick on what I believe was not ideal asset management by the Rangers at this point in the draft.
But I digress. I do very much like each of the players the Rangers selected in the first round, even if there were others I preferred on the board when the selections were made. I will repeat, just because the team did not take my personal highest ranked guy left on the board, does not mean the pick was bad. I had Oliver Wahlstrom ranked fourth in my rankings, so you will be hard-pressed to find a bigger advocate of his than me. I still think the Kravtsov selection was a good pick. Would I have personally preferred Wahlstrom at 9? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean Kravtsov was a bad pick.
In fact, there is an argument to be made that Kravtsov has just as high, if not higher, of a ceiling than Wahlstrom. Kravtsov is a kid that, in my opinion, has all the tools to be a high-impact player in the NHL that can play in all situations and contribute in a multitude of ways. The 6’ 2’’ 183-pound right wing possesses an enticing tool chest of skills and attributes that I strongly believe will help him to become a dynamic offensive force while also being a strong defensive forward. His tantalizing blend of speed, size, skill and hockey IQ should allow him to become a clear fan-favorite once he cracks the NHL, and hopefully will help fans forget all about passing on Oliver Wahlstrom. However, he is still somewhat raw, particularly his skating technique, so I would implore everyone to please be a bit patient with his development. But in time, I am adamant in my belief that, barring injury or any unforeseen off-ice issue, he will be a top-line wing for years.
A few people have asked me for a player style comparison for Kravtsov, and quite frankly I don’t think there is a good one-for-one comparison. I have watched him play a lot leading up to this draft, since he was one of the more intriguing prospects to me. Honestly, when I watch him play, he looks like a mix of Jamie Benn and Vladimir Tarasenko. He has an incredible patience with the puck for a player of his young age, and that combined with his lengthy and puck skills allows him to play a possession-style game in the offensive zone that reminds me of Jamie Benn. However, he also has dynamic puck-handling ability that combined with his speed and his fantastic release (one of the best in the entire draft class in my opinion) allows him to dangle around defenders and quickly snipe the puck past the goalie, which of course is where I draw the Tarasenko comparison from. In addition to his offensive skills, he also shows the proclivity to play a defensively-responsible game as well, which is likely the cause of him receiving penalty kill time in the KHL as a teenager. While his defensive game is far from perfect, he shows good instincts, gap control and uses his long reach to disrupt the opposition, and once his game matures, he can certainly be an impact defensive forward as well.
Of course, if it was all roses, Kravtsov would’ve been gone before the ninth pick, and it would be disingenuous for me to not point out his areas of improvement. While he is a fast skater, his technique absolutely could use refinement; it is far from broken however, and with the right skating coach in the NHL, he could make the jump from a good skater to a fantastic skater. He also needs to add strength still, and sometimes tends to shy away from contact. He does show a bit of grit in his game, don’t get me wrong, but the physicality of his game comes and goes, but I believe as he grows stronger, this portion of his game will become more consistent.[/text_output]
Miller also possesses great, but still raw, offensive abilities, which is where his true high-end upside exists. He has a very heavy shot that is also fairly accurate, and he is a better playmaker than many give him credit for. He makes quick decisions with the puck and is an accurate passer, but he also has soft hands and above-average puck handling ability for a defenseman, particularly one of his size. The chart below, courtesy of the CHL Player Comparison tool from one of my personal favorite prospect analysts, Mitch Brown, shows how K’Andre Miller stacks up against now-Islander Noah Dobson. Small sample size alert applies here, but in the eight games tracked for each player, Miller consistently out-performs Dobson in terms of shot and scoring chance generation, neutral zone defense and controlled zone exits. Long story short, while he is still raw and needs to continue to refine his game, K’Andre Miller was a strong pick at 22, and is a fantastic home run swing for a team like that Rangers whose biggest hole is simply top-flight talent.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2684″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]I also loved the pick the Rangers made at 28, Nils Lundkvist, who is a player that I’ve long been advocating as a first-round talent. I watched a lot of Swedish play this year in preparation for this draft, and to be quite honest, there were many times that Nils Lundkvist, in my opinion at least, out-performed the number 8 pick in the draft, Adam Boqvist. Now, I’m not saying Lundkvist is going to be a better player than Boqvist, but he very much impressed me during every viewing of his. He is a smart player with good offensive and defensive instincts, and is particularly adept and moving the puck up the ice.
The 5’ 11’’, 174-pound right-handed defenseman is slightly undersized, but makes up for it by pulling a page out of the Mats Zuccarello playbook and using a longer stick than his height calls for. While he is still a work-in-progress defensively and needs to add strength, he does possess all the raw tools to become a true two-way defenseman at the NHL level in a few years. Some pundits question his skating, but I personally have not seen anything to suggest that he is a poor skater; in fact, I would argue his skating is strength. He has a high hockey IQ and has strong puck handling skills, which allow him to be a very strong playmaker in the offensive zone. He is an aggressive player in the offensive zone, but does need to work on his decision-making when it comes to when he chooses to join the attack however. He has a good shot with some power behind it, and that coupled with his offensive instincts I believe will lead to him becoming an effective power play quarterback in the NHL.
The rest of the Rangers draft performance was polarizing to say the least. While I don’t believe taking Lindbom at 39 was quite the insane reach some made it out to be (Corey Pronman had him as his highest-ranked goalie, and Bob McKenzie had him 55 in his final rankings), I still was not a fan at all of the pick, especially when you consider the players still on the board. However, I do feel that many fans let this pick poison the well for the rest of their draft experience, and I don’t believe the rest of the draft was half as bad as everyone made it out to be.
The Rangers took Jacob Ragnarsson with the 70th pick, and quite frankly I’m a bit dumbfounded why so many thought this was an insane reach. Again, I will repeat, just because your guy was not selected, does not mean it was a bad pick. Would I have preferred Niklas Nordgren, whom the Blackhawks took a handful of picks later? Absolutely, and in fact, I had the Rangers selecting Nordgren at 39 in the mock draft we conducted last week, so you won’t find a bigger fan of Nordgren’s than I. While I would have loved the Rangers to take Nordgren, I believe that Jacob Ragnarsson was a perfectly fine pick at 70. He didn’t quite crack my top-62 ranks; I had him as an early/mid third round pick target, and that’s exactly where he went. Ryan Biech of Canucks Army wrote this fantastic profile on Ragnarsson, and I highly recommend everyone check it out (they had hid ranked 55th for what it’s worth). In fact, Ryan noted that, “Jacob may be one of the most underrated prospect of this draft class.” To summarize his skill profile, he excels in the defensive end of the ice but also features a sneaky-good wrist shot and is a very fluid skater. He is confident with the puck on his stick and is a decent passer, but nobody will ever mistake him for Ryan Merkley in terms of his passing ability. Will Ragnarsson become a top-pairing defenseman? Probably not, but then again, odds are that no defenseman or forward taken this late in the draft will become a high-impact player. However, Ragnarsson possesses a well-rounded selection of skills and hockey sense that should provide him with a good chance of having a solid NHL career, which is more than you can say about most third-round players.
I was also a fan of the Riley Hughes pick at 216, and perfectly fine with the Joey Keane (88), Nico Gross (101) and Lauri Pajuniemi (132), as each possess various skill sets that could help them to become NHL players. Keane is as smooth a skater as it gets, and according to Mitch Brown’s data, has the ability to help generate offense and possesses strong zone entry and exit ability. Nico Gross is someone who looks very poor in term’s of Mitch Brown’s tool, but in my viewings of Oshawa (which admittedly I was focusing more on Serron Noel), Gross stood out to me as an adept defender who also was not afraid to join the rush; however, he does make a lot of mistakes still. He is certainly raw and has a lot of work to do, but he is someone that I think possesses the raw ability that could translate to an NHL career, provided he puts the necessary work in to improve his game and receives the proper coaching.
I don’t know much about Pajuniemi personally, other than he already cracked the Finnish Liiga, which is an impressive feat for a teenager. What I do know based on what I’ve read since the draft, is the kid is a good puck handler that possesses decent playmaking ability and his skating is a plus. And in terms of Hughes, he is a kid that I believe could prove to be a steal in the seventh round, and I agree with George’s assessment on the player earlier in this article. But hey, if you don’t want to believe us, believe Corey Pronman of The Athletic, who tweeted immediately following the pick that Hughes was one of his favorite sleepers, and quite frankly that’s good enough for me to like him at pick 216. I will say though that I put in approximately 100 hours of research into this draft class spanning back to this time last year, and I’ve never once heard of Simon Kjellberg, so I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I can even justify that choice. That said, it was a sixth-round pick, and quite frankly, I don’t have the energy to freak out because a sixth-round pick is someone I’ve literally never heard of.
All in all, the I believe the Rangers had a fine draft, and their perceived poor performance on day two has been greatly over-exaggerated. Did they leave some fairly obvious talent on the board? Absolutely. But they also made a number of decent picks that I think went overlooked because everyone was too pissed off about the 39th pick. I’m not a big fan of draft grades, but if I had to assign them it would be as follows. I give the Rangers a B+ for day one, which would’ve been an A- had they not over-paid to move up from 26 to 22. I give them an F for round two thanks to the traded pick and the goalie selection at 39, too high for my blood. However, I give them a B- for their performance for the rest of day two, and I particularly liked their Ragnarsson and Hughes selections. All in all, my grade for the Rangers overall draft performance would be a B, as I do place more emphasis on day one than day two, and I believe they made some good under-the-radar picks in the later rounds.[/text_output][text_output]Photo Credit for Featured Image: Getty Images / Bruce Bennett[/text_output]
Author: BSB Staff
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