New York Rangers: What if Dylan McIlrath panned out?

When the Dylan McIlrath experiment began in 2010, many fans thought that he would develop into a competent New York Rangers defenseman for years to come. While that obviously didn’t happen, what would it have meant for the team if it did?

In 2010, with the tenth overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft, the New York Rangers selected Dylan McIlrath. He was described as a physical defenseman who used his size to his advantage and had a good shot but could’ve used some help with his skating.

He began to play for the Rangers’ AHL team, then the Connecticut Whale, in 2012. As he collected years in the AHL, he slowly improved his offensive game although his outrageous numbers of penalty minutes never went down.

When he finally reached the NHL and was given a regular roster spot for the 2015-2016 season, he didn’t exactly break out like many expected him to. In 34 games, McIlrath had two goals and two assists for a total of four points. He appeared in one out of the team’s five playoff games that year but didn’t really have an impact during it.

One month into the 2016-2017 season, he was traded. The Rangers sent the defenseman to the Florida Panthers. In return, they got defenseman Steven Kampfer and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft.

McIlrath was traded again in March 2017, going to the Detroit Red Wings along with a conditional third-round pick in the 2017 draft. The Panthers got Thomas Vanek in return.

Since then, he has been a regular in the AHL, something that many fans did not see coming in the beginning. But, even years after his departure, some can’t help but wonder; what could have been?

Improvement on defense

For the past few years, the New York Rangers’ main problem has been with their defense. Up until last season, it was dragged down by the trio of Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, and Kevin Klein. The addition of Nick Holden seemed to be the last straw before the pairings went completely downhill.

Of course, McIlrath didn’t exactly help either. If he had adapted a little bit better to the NHL level, there’s a chance that the defense may not have gotten as bad as it did.

Dylan McIlrath could have been the savior of the defense? No, not quite, but he probably could have helped.

Over the past couple years, the only consistently reliable defenseman had been Ryan McDonagh. The addition of Kevin Shattenkirk helped tremendously and it seems like Brady Skjei will eventually grow to fill a similar role. The subtraction of Girardi, Klein, and Holden has also helped the defense to improve.

McIlrath is two years older than Skjei. He would have been a huge asset to have on the defense if his play had matured accordingly. Since they are both 26 and 24 years old, respectively, having two capable young defensemen would have been a big boost for the team.

Would it have won them the Stanley Cup? No, probably not. Would it have stopped some Staal-Holden mishaps from occurring? Probably.

What can be learned

What can be learned from what could have been with Dylan McIlrath? A very valuable lesson, one that will be used again once June 22nd and 23rd roll around.

This draft is crucial for the New York Rangers. It’s probably the most important draft for the team in the past five years, maybe more.

McIlrath was drafted tenth overall in 2010. Some very talented players that were still available when he was selected. Among these names are Cam Fowler, Vladimir Tarasenko, Nick Bjugstad and Charlie Coyle.

Obviously, predicting talent below the NHL level is difficult. There are tons of players who flourish in juniors and it never translates to the “big leagues.”

However, McIlrath had already been established as a large, physical defenseman before he was even drafted. When drafting, the focus should always be on skill level, regardless of the player’s “grit” level or physicality.

Next: Five most frustrating players of the Lundqvist era

This year especially, the Rangers need to draft the best possible players available, given that they already have a first-round pick from the draft lottery (ninth overall). Going into a rebuild, the right tone needs to be set. Another pick based on size or grit like Dylan McIlrath will do the opposite of that.

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