New York Rangers Draft Recap Roundtable

For our draft recap special this year, we preset to you a roundtable-style article where Rich Coyle, George Obremski, Shawn Taggart and Drew Way answer a few key questions regarding the Rangers draft execution, and slightly delve into our hopes moving forward with the rest of the off-season. If you have any additional questions you’d like to see one of us answer, please feel free to hit us up in the comments or on Twitter (all names are linked to our Twitter bios), and if there is enough interest we will write a follow-up mailbag article in the weeks to come.

Rich – My grade for the Rangers draft is an A-. I really like almost every pick they made, and the general consensus is that the Rangers got great value with almost all of their picks. There is only one pick I really didn’t like from the moment they made it, and that pick is 4th rounder Hunter Skinner. Although I didn’t know anything about the player at the moment he was picked, I am not exactly enamored with what I’ve read and heard. The fact that there were decent forwards with solid upside left on the board, such as Lucas Feuk, Tuukka Tieksola, and Henri Nikkanen, just makes the pick look that much worse. Other than that, I can’t really complain with what the Rangers came out of the weekend with. All in all, the Rangers came away with prospects that have a decent ceiling AND a good probability of making it to the NHL.

George – I give the Rangers an A-. Drafting Kakko with the 2nd overall pick was a no brainer here. He could end up being the best player in this year’s draft with a combination of elite skill & NHL size. After Kakko, it looks like the rangers went with prospects who have good skating ability and have very good upside. Matthew Robertson was a great pick at 49 as I had him 28th in my rankings. Zac Jones was another solid pick, even though I feel we have enough defense prospects. He’s a very good skater and was one of the better defensemen in the USHL this past season. Leevi Aaltonen was an amazing pick in the 5th round as I had him going in the late 3rd round and had him ranked in the late 80s. The later picks, Edstrom & Ciccolini are both solid but will take some time to develop. Edstrom should play in the SHL next year & Ciccolini will play for the University of Michigan next season.

Shawn – My grade for the Rangers draft is an A. They hit an absolute home run with the second overall pick in Kaapo Kakko. You’ve seen the hype, which is well deserved on him and he’s going to be a bright spot, in an already bright future for the young Ranger forwards. The team is doing a lot about building out its core, both on the offensive and defensive side.

The Rangers could have done nothing on day 2, and I would’ve given them an A alone on Kakko. Yet, that’s now how it works. The Rangers addressed issues that they needed to build up on with the forward group, but what’s interesting to me is the abundance of defensive picks that the Rangers made in day 2. They already had a big logjam on defense but them adding more to it means that some are probably on their way out.

You’d have to think what happens with Sean Day? What happens with Ryan Lindgren and Yegor Rykov. The Rangers went ahead and signed Joey Keane and Tarmo Reunanen to entry level deals. Now we know the logjam that’s up on defense with the big club. The chance of Adam Fox making the team, Libor Hajek trying to fight for a spot and the sudden will they or won’t they with Kevin Shattenkirk and Brendan Smith. It’s a very interesting time to see the Rangers with so much on defense, and it’ll be even more interesting in seeing exactly where they go with all this.

Drew – I’d give the Rangers a solid A- for their draft weekend execution, but if you want to include the Trouba and Fox moves into the analysis, I’d give them an A. Obviously due to the luck of the lottery, the Rangers were put in a position to be fortunate enough to draft Kaapo Kakko, who in my estimation has all the makings to be a true, franchise cornerstone winger. I don’t care that it took lottery luck to get him, that’s a clear A+ for Day 1, regardless of the lack of additional moves. If you want to include the Jacob Trouba trade into the analysis, since the primary piece used to acquire Trouba was the 20^th overall pick, then you raise the Day 1 grade even higher, because as much as I love some of the talent that was available at 20, odds are they don’t pan out as good as Jacob Trouba. What would be higher than an A+?

In terms of day 2, I’d give the Rangers a solid B+ if you don’t consider the Fox move, and an A- if you do. A few people asked me if any of the defenseman that were available at 37, where the Rangers would’ve been picking in round 2 had they not traded for Fox, were better than Fox. That answer is an EASY NO from me. Adam Fox far and away is a better prospect than any of the defenseman that were available at 37, and it isn’t even remotely close in my opinion.

In terms of the actual players selected in day 2, I think the Rangers left some talent on the board, but still made a number of very good selections. If you’d like to know more detailed analysis of my thoughts on the individual players, please check out the most recent podcast episode, where I spent a half hour explaining my thoughts on the draft and players selected. To summarize however, Matthew Robertson at pick 49 is a great value pick. I had him rated at 42, which admittedly might’ve been a bit low, but he is a big but very mobile defenseman who is more known for his defensive game than offensive, but that doesn’t mean he lacks offensive tools. He’s excellent in transition, very adept passer, possesses a heavy shot and I personally project him as a well-rounded and reliable 2^nd pairing guy.

The next two picks—Karl Henriksson and Zachary Jones—both are upside swings on talent by the Rangers, and neither were reaches. I had both ranked approximately where the Rangers took them, and both possesses the work ethics, hockey sense and physical tools to easily outperform these draft slots if they develop properly. Leevi Aaltonen at 130^th overall and Eric Ciccolini at 205^th overall both also fall into this same bucket, and I was excited by both of these selections. Aaltonen honestly is among the 5 best overall skaters in this entire draft class, but also possess a high-end motor, decent playmaking ability and a sneaky wrist shot, and if it all comes together for him I could certainly see him developing into an NHL contributor, which at pick 130 represents tremendous value.

Despite all these nice things I’ve said, I can’t go higher than a B+, because despite all these picks being good, they did pass on the likes of Nick Robertson and Pavel Dorofeyev (who they passed on 3 times), both of which I had ranked as no-brainer first round talents. They also made a pick that I found quite head-scratching, but we’ll get to that more later.

Rich – My favorite pick (outside of Kakko) of the Rangers draft is Zac Jones, who was drafted in the third round at 68th overall. Jones is a smooth-skating, puck moving defenseman with significant offensive upside. However, he is pretty sloppy in his own zone and needs to clean up the defensive aspect of his game. The good news is that he’s attending UMass in the fall and the plethora of left-handed defenseman in the Rangers system means he can spend 3-4 years to develop if he and the Rangers see that as the best option. I think we could be looking back at this pick as a steal in a few years if Jones can clean up his defensive game.

George – Leevi Aaltonen, selected number 130 overall in the 5^th round. I had him rated in the late 80’s due to his skating. His skating is elite as Corey Pronman tweeted at the time of the pick and because of that, he could be a solid depth piece for us in a few years. An issue with him is that his skill doesn’t match his skating but that doesn’t mean he can be successful in the NHL. I see a lot of Jesper Fast in him in that he can be a very good bottom 6 player and a PK specialist.

Shawn – Look no further than the 68th overall pick in Zachary Jones. I’ll start with one of the tweets on him that interested me the most from Hannah Stuart:

A lot of what I read up about Jones in the past couple of days after the pick is that he’s a good mover with the puck, who does a good job at leading the rush. One thing I do notice is he’s also quick to get back to his own defensive end, and is still a work in progress on growing his game there. He led all USHL defenseman this past year with 45 assists, and was named USHL Rookie of the Year while playing for the Tri-City Storm.

Jones has committed to playing for UMass Amherst next year, who last year made a run to the NCAA Frozen Four tournament, losing in the championship game to Minnesota Duluth. It’ll be interesting to see how his growth continues on a team that has shown a positive upswing in their on-ice performance.

Drew – I could make a reasonable case for a number of players here, as I feel the Rangers got good value throughout, but I’ll go with Leevi Aaltonen. I will quickly add before I get into Aaltonen that I almost went with Henriksson here, especially after seeing Evan Oppenheimer’s data showing that Henriksson’s production was not overly-reliant on playing on a line with the absolute stud of a 2020 prospect Lucas Raymond, thus alleviating one of the only concerns I had about Henriksson as a prospect. I had Henriksson ranked 60^th in my final ranks, and had I had this data available to me at the time I was making my ranks I probably would’ve bumped him up to around 50 or 51, at the back-end of my 6^th tier.

Now back to Aaltonen. In my prospects spreadsheet, where I track stats and house my notes on prospects I watch throughout the year and continuously hone my rankings, I had Aaltonen as my 81^st ranked prospect (note, my spreadsheet ended up having 152 players in total). To get a guy I had ranked at 81 nearly 50 spots later at 130 is tremendous value. On our last podcast, Greg astutely pointed out that smart NFL teams target guys with one outstanding skill in the later rounds, and then try to develop the player into an NFL regular around that one outstanding skill of theirs. That is exactly what the Rangers can do here, as Aaltonen is one of the best all-around skaters in this entire draft class.

I already discussed his overall traits a bit in my last answer, so I’ll save you all the redundancy. But instead, just check out this clip of a shorthanded goal by Aaltonen below. He starts in the middle of the screen, and the moment his team gets possession of the puck he flies up the ice, receives the breakout pass, and then buries a wrister past the goalie.

Rich – Although he has a dope ass name, my least favorite pick was definitely Hunter Skinner. I didn’t know anything about him when the Rangers picked him, but after reading up on him post-draft, I don’t feel particularly good about this pick, especially when there were some decent forwards with solid upside still left on the board. I’ll continue to do some digging but this is most definitely my least favorite pick the Rangers made.

George – Hunter Skinner, the 112^th overall pick in the 4^th round. The New York Rangers have traded for and drafted defense prospects since the start of this “rebuild.” Through trades, they have added prospects like Libor Hajek, Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox, and Jacob Trouba, and through the draft, they’ve added K’Andre Miller, Lundkvist, Ragnarsson, Keane, Gross, Kjellberg in 2018 and two more defensive prospects before Skinner in the 2019 draft. I really don’t see much that stands out with Skinner and because of that, this would have to be my least favorite pick.

Shawn – If I had to pick anyone, and I really don’t want to because I feel there is a justifiable reason that the Rangers made the picks that they did and its really just all personal preference from here, but to go with my theme on “why more defenseman” I’m going to have to go with their fourth round pick, Hunter Skinner.

And no this doesn’t mean that I dislike him, I think he has the potential to be a serviceable piece as a bottom pairing defenseman in the NHL, if he makes it on this team that is. When you’re drafting in the later rounds, you’re also looking at those in the future that may potentially be additional pieces in a trade when moving some players that may fall out of that shuffle a bit, and with the Rangers and their logjam, were potentially seeing that with both Day and Rykov, though I feel they’ll give Rykov a better chance to prove himself as this will be his first year in North America.

Skinner has the tools to be good, has shown vast improvement in his skating as the year went on but he needs to continue that growth on the defensive end, which is something that he is committed in doing. Going to Western Michigan next year, it’ll be good to see him continue to improve on that end, and also grow as a skater as well.

Drew – This easily was Hunter Skinner for me. Listen, I’m rooting for this kid, and I hope the Rangers, who seemingly have heavily scouted the USHL recently, see something that I’m missing. But fact of the matter is, despite me having my little prospects database of over 150 players, and despite me watching more USHL games than I care to ever admit, the only reason I even knew this kid existed is because his name is Hunter Skinner and that’s a name you don’t forget when you see him playing in a game you are watching to check out Yegor Afanasyev. But hey, if my only real complaint with the Rangers draft is their 4^th round pick is someone I’m not familiar with, than clearly they did a very nice job overall.

Rich – If I was Jeff Gorton and Co., the only thing I would’ve done differently was jump up to the top of the second round and draft one or maybe even both of Arthur Kaliyev/Bobby Brink. If you read my final draft rankings, you’d know I was very high on both and had both of them in my top-10 (Kaliyev at 5, Brink at 8). They both come with some flaws, but the enormous upside that comes with both outweigh those flaws in my opinion. Maybe the asking prices to move up from the mid-late second round were ridiculous, who knows? The Rangers have a plethora of B/C prospects in the system and could’ve used adding another player or two with high-end upside, even if that meant the player or player(s) came with some question marks. Nonetheless, I was pretty much satisfied with *almost* everything Jeff Gorton and Co. did on draft weekend.

George – The only main thing I would have done differently is I would have made a different pick with our 4th round pick, 112th overall (Hunter Skinner). I had prospects available in my rankings that were still available with our 4th pick. Prospect like Judd Caulfied (Pitt. 154th OA), Massimo Rizzo (CAR 216th OA), Braden Doyle (LAK 157th OA), and more were available and picked after the Skinner Pick. Another thing I would have done better would try to move up to draft Dorofeyev. That being said it’s difficult to move up in the draft as it takes two teams do make a trade and moving up 40 picks would cost a lot, even in the later rounds.

Shawn – It seemed like a common thread in day one of the draft, was the uncertainty of the cap and trades were non-existent when it came to trading roster players.

Day two opened up with the Hurricanes acquiring Patrick Marleau and then the biggest splash was the Devils getting PK Subban from the Predators for practically nothing (besides his $9 million AAV salary). The Rangers were rumored to be shopping Jimmy Vesey and Chris Kreider (who even with all my irrational white rage towards, would just be downright silly to do).

I would’ve liked to see Jeff Gorton and company try to wheel and deal to earlier in the second round, to either draft one of Bobby Brink or Arthur Kalyiev who fell out of the first round but were quickly scooped up early in the second by the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings respectively. I’d also would have liked to see them draft Pavel Dorofeyev who ended up going to the Vegas Golden Knights.

At the end of the day, there were players available, just to Gorton and company, nothing screamed out that made sense for them to make the move.

Drew – I would’ve drafted Pavel Dorofeyev!

Kidding aside, is it too simple to follow up my last answer by saying what I would’ve done differently is not draft Hunter Skinner? Alright, I’ll go a bit deeper, because it is a cop-out to leave it at that. Here are some players that went after Skinner in the fourth round, and I’ve put my own personal ranking of each in parenthesis after their name: Henrik Nikkanen (101), Mikhail Abramov (93), Lucas Feuk (105), Semyon Chistyakov (80), Tuukka Tieksola (66), Ethan Keppen (53), Antti Saarela (95). Those are only players that went after Skinner in the 4^th round that I would have strongly preferred, let alone a large handful of guys that went in the later rounds that I would’ve taken instead. Again, I’m not going to be that guy who freaks out because I didn’t like the Rangers 4^th round pick, but fact of the matter is, they went with a big, safe defensive-defenseman who can skate but offers little else and likely projects as an AHL defenseman, when there was still plenty of high-upside talent on the board at areas of much bigger need.

Rich – It has been a fantastic start to the off-season for the Rangers. Not only did they add Jacob Trouba, but they got rid of Neal Pionk in the process (which is addition by subtraction). They then came away with a solid draft haul, led by our lord and savior Kaapo Kakko. Now comes free agency. As we all know the big name connected with the Rangers is Artemi Panarin. Here’s my take on Panarin — I’ll be ecstatic if the Rangers get him, but I won’t be devastated if they don’t. If they get Panarin, the Rangers could be a bubble playoff team. If they don’t, stay the course and continue the rebuild — the 2020 Draft is absolutely loaded. With regards to the rest of the off-season, I also believe Chris Kreider getting traded is almost inevitable. I’m not going to throw out any trade proposals or anything, but getting an unprotected first rounder in 2020 is the dream. Ideally, I’d also like to get some picks for the likes of Jimmy Vesey, Ryan Strome, and Vladislav Namestnikov.

George – Part of me wants to go after the big fish this summer and sign the bread man, Panarin but another part of me wants me to stay the course and compile some more picks for the loaded 2020 draft. 2020 will be the best draft since 2003 draft and it will have loads of high end talent and players that could help us right away. Because of that, I really hope Mats Zuccarello re-signs with Dallas so we get another 1st round pick. Staying the course would also allow our young core another year to develop and could help us in the long run.

That being said, the Rangers have to extend RFA’s Jacob Trouba, Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Lemieux, and Anthony DeAngelo. I believe the Rangers should also trade two of Vesey, Namestnikov, Strome, and Kreider this summer. This would free up space on the wing for Kravtsov and Kakko and allow Buchnevich to play a more solid role in our top 6. I feel having Kravtsov & Kakko in the bottom 6 would be harmful to their development as they would not be getting enough playing time. Also playing in the AHL would do the same as they’ve already proved that they can be successful in equivalent leagues (KHL & Liiga).

Shawn – It all now lies on if the Rangers will do anything for fixing the logjam that is in the middle of the lineup with Vesey, Ryan Strome and Vlad Namestnikov. They have some youth coming up in both Kakko and Vitali Kravstov and while I’m all for that 100%, it needs to be one or two of the three forwards I just mentioned that need to move out of the way for that to happen and them to get the spots in the lineup that they deserve and earn. I’m still in the belief that Pavel Buchnevich wants to still prove to himself that what he did at the end of the season is something he can do for a full 82-game season.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the potential of the signing of Artemi Panarin. Who would be a dramatic upgrade and a nice addition to the Rangers first line with Mika Zibanejad and if David Quinn wants to see it, with Kakko at least to start out the year.

Like I said in the first question, to me it’s going to be real interesting in what the Rangers do on the defensive side of things. Especially since we do have a logjam with players like Shattenkirk, Smith, Anthony DeAngelo, Hajek and Fox wanting to all have a spot in the Rangers lineup next year. Do they make a move to address those concerns. Does it come via a trade or a buyout? With them not using this first buyout window, you know the Rangers have to be contemplating using this second one, but on who out of Smith and Shattenkirk. I could get on a whole tangent about doing that to Shattenkirk, but this isn’t the time or place.

The Rangers are going to need some veteran leadership if the plan is to make a serious run to the cup, and seemingly end the rebuild process. BUT, the rebuild process should continue if they fall flat on signing Panarin, they should go ahead and continue the rebuild process, use that core group of young forwards and build off that.

Drew – My honest to Kakko answer is to just not do anything stupid. I’m all for taking a run at Artemi Panarin. As much as some fans hate to admit it, the NHL is still primarily a star-driven league, and when you have the opportunity to get a proven star such as Artemi Panarin, you have to do it. Yes, you need depth as well in the NHL, and luckily for the Rangers, they now have an excellent prospect pool that contains a number of players that can provide high-upside depth at the lowest price possible, an entry-level contract. If the Rangers miss out on Panarin, I say sit on the sidelines for the remainder of free agency. If there is a bargain to be had on a 1-year contract (two absolute max) on an established veteran that can come in and help with the development of our prospects, great. But my hope is that if the Rangers miss out on Panarin, they don’t attempt to sign—and inevitably overpay—another big name such as Matt Duchene or Joe Pavelski, and instead maintain their cap flexibility and put themselves in a situation to take advantage of a potentially cap-strapped team in need of moving salary to re-sign one of their own RFAs.

In terms of trades, I don’t think it makes much sense to make a deal until after the “free agent frenzy” of early July. I think if the Rangers indeed are intent on moving Kreider, you can maximize his value by trading him to a potentially desperate team who misses out on their UFA targets. Colorado, Nashville, Dallas, Edmonton and Calgary are all teams I’ve seen heavily linked to multiple high-profile UFA forwards, and are all teams I could see turning to the trade market, and particularly Chris Kreider, if they miss out. If the Rangers cannot get the (hopefully high) price they set on Kreider, I say hold onto him. I don’t believe Kreider is a guy you “have to trade,” but instead is a guy you can trade if you get the right value in return. He is, in my opinion, a top-25 wing in the NHL who is on an excellent current contract, and he’s a guy that will be highly coveted in next year’s UFA market, should he make it to that.

For what it’s worth, I’m also perfectly fine with re-signing Kreider, assuming his contract demands are not too onerous. I get the concern about how the back end of his deal might look, particularly because his game is predicated on speed and he will likely be in his 30s for multiple years of the deal, but I also feel Kreider is a more intelligent player than he gets credit for—despite some of the dumb penalties he takes from time to time—and I have confidence in his ability and IQ, as well as that of David Quinn & company to help him adapt his game and put him in the position to still be an impactful player even into his 30s. Like I said, I’m all for dealing Kreider if the return is right, but I’m totally against the notion that he “must” be dealt.

As far as the other names rumored to be on the trade market—Vesey Namestnikov, Shattenkirk and Strome—I’m fine with dealing any and all of them for the right price. For Shattenkirk, the Trouba deal makes him expendable and with all due respect to some of the more, err, tenured hockey writers for the Rangers, I strongly disagree if you think Shattenkirk can’t be dealt to a team desperate for defensive help. It would be completely asinine to buy him out,  especially in a world where teams are giving up value for clearly over-the-hill and worse players like Justin Braun and Matt Niskanen.

For Vesey and Strome, I think they provide decent depth scoring and represent pieces all contenders need, and I also think they are a bit redundant on the current Rangers roster, so I’m all for moving them for whatever the best price you can fetch, whether it’s now or at the trade deadlines. Namestnikov I still view as a valuable player who can play in all situations, all zones and, most importantly, all lines. While he comes at a more expensive cap hit, unless the Rangers desperately need those $4 million dollars elsewhere, I’m in favor of keeping him and moving him throughout the lineup as needed. Players like that tend to be excellent for developing teams like the Rangers, and he’s proven in the past he can be put with the most talented players in the league, or in a more depth role, and still provide an impact on the ice. All that said, like I say with all players, if someone offers you a deal you can’t resist for him, bye bye Namestnikov.