New York Rangers: Five best prospects who will play overseas in 18-19
The New York Rangers have a lot of youngsters joining the organization during training camp. Who are the five best who have committed to playing in Europe in 18-19?
The New York Rangers have plenty of players on their roster that spent significant time developing overseas like Pavel Buchnevich, Mats Zuccarello, Jesper Fast and de facto captain Henrik Lundqvist.
And while the team has always dipped their feet into the international prospect market, their investment in European players has never been greater than it is now.
Over the past few years they have drafted heavily from European countries. They’ve selected many intriguing prospects including forwards Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson who have already came to North American and have played some impressive hockey.
This past draft was no different. The Rangers selected six European players with their 10 picks, including two in the first round.
While the team surely would like to see all of their prospects in one place during training camp, a batch of European players with commitments for the 2018-19 season will not be there to participate.
Who are those players? And where do they rank amongst each other as prospects? Let’s take a look!
5. Patrik Virta, RW, HC Slovan Bratislava
Virta was a the 201st selection of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Being selected in the middle of the seventh round as an overager, expectations for the right wing were as minuscule as possible.
A year after being drafted, Virta came out of nowhere and tallied 14 goals and 12 assists in 49 games in his first season with TPS in Liliga. His second season in Finland’s best pro hockey league found Virta registering the same amount of goals but doubling his assist total to 24 in nine more games.
Virta has exceptional hands in tight. He needs to be covered tightly within 10 feet of the net or he can thread a quick pass in between defenders right on to a teammate’s stick, or blast it by the netminder.
Virta will be playing in the KHL for the first time in 2018-19 with HC Slovan Bratislava. If he can stick there and put up some numbers, his chances at fulfilling his NHL dreams inch a bit closer.
4. Yegor Rykov, LHD, SKA St. Petersburg
Acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the Michael Grabner trade, Rykov just finished his rookie season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
It is very rare that a KHL team gives a 20 year-old significant minutes, especially on a team as stacked as SKA, but they gave Rykov more and more responsibility as the season went off. He even played 49 games with the squad in his age 19 season.
In 53 regular season games, Rykov notched two goals and 12 assists in 12:33 a night. In 13 playoff appearances, the Vidno, Russia native notched two assists.
Dobber Prospects describes Rykov as a “promising, sizable blueliner with leadership qualities and a good two-way game that needs some seasoning.”
The Rangers see a kid who checks off a few of their boxes:
- Good puck-mover
- Leader
- Plays in a men’s league
They believe that Rykov has top four NHL defenseman upside, so grabbing him for a rental in Grabner was, in their view, a steal.
Rykov will be seeing his role expand even more with SKA in 2018-19 and will likely join the Rangers in North America for training camp in 2019.
3. Nils Lundkvist, RHD, Luleå HF
Of the players on this list, Lundkvist is the biggest wild card. Drafted at just 17 years old, the Rangers are extremely high on their Swedish defenseman who they selected at 28 this past June.
Lundkvist is the prototypical puck-moving, two-way defender who is reliable in each and every area of the ice. He’s just 17, so his 5-foot-11, 180 lbs frame is pretty impressive for where things stand in his development.
In 2017-18, Lundkvist sprouted into the best defender in the SuperElite league while also receiving a call up from Luleå HF of the SHL, a men’s league. In 28 games with the squad, Lundkvist registered two goals and three assists.
You likely won’t see him on North American soil for another year or two, but just know he is has just about as much upside as any Rangers prospect on the back end.
2. Igor Shestyorkin, G, SKA St. Petersburg
When you talk about the elite goalie prospects in the game, Igor Shestyorkin’s name is one of the first that comes up.
The New York Rangers drafted the Moskva, Russia native with their fourth round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft at age 18. Since then, Shestyorkin has become almost a folk hero among Rangers fans.
Shestyorkin has played parts of the last four seasons with SKA St. Petersburg, the last two playing alongside fellow Rangers prospect Yegor Rykov.
Over the last two seasons since the team increased his role, Shestyorkin has posted an absurd 47-8-10 record in 65 contests along with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. He’ even notched 15 shutouts over the last two seasons. And not to mention, he was more than steady for every national team he played for.
Shestyorkin was also nominated as a KHL all star in each of the last two seasons.
This is what Hockey’s Future had to say about the Russian netminder:
“Shestyorkin is an agile goaltender who has great reflexes and excellent lateral movement. He is still learning to challenge shooters and set himself properly, but he has the potential to be a starting netminder in the NHL.”
Shestyorkin’s KHL deal expires after 2018-19 so expect Henrik Lundqvist’s heir to be in North America for training camp 2019.
1 Vitali Kravtsov, RW, Traktor Chelyabinsk
The Rangers selected Kravtsov with the ninth pick in the 2018 draft and immediately became the team’s most intriguing prospect. The 18-year old is a big kid. Standing in at 6-foot-4 and weighing in at 192 lbs and has potential to be a scary good power forward in the league.
Many prospect analysts have compared Kravtsov to fellow Russian Evgeny Kuznetsov. The comparison is a fair one. Both players are big bodied, can pass the puck with the best of them and have a sneaky wristers.
This is what Elite Prospects has to say about the Rangers’ prospect:
“A big, skilled winger that can play up and down the lineup and provide scoring in a number of roles. He brings grit and physical size, but could be more assertive in throwing his weight around more. Displays excellent speed on the rush and in zone entry, but could backcheck quicker.”
In 35 KHL games, Kravtsov tallied just four goals and three assists in under nine minutes of ice time per game. When the team expanded his role to about 12 minutes a night in the postseason, Kravtsov took off. Putting the team on his back, the Vladivostok, Russia native notched six goals and five assists in 16 games.
Must read: Libor Hajek prospect profile
He was the second highest forward on the Rangers’ board at the draft and they were planning on grabbing him for weeks. He’s a fantastic forward and arguably the Rangers’ best prospect overall (although Filip Chytil may have something to say about that).
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The Rangers decided that it would be best for the youngster to return to his KHL team for one more season rather than bring him over to Hartford for the 2018-19 campaign. While that might be disappointing to some, the KHL is the world’s second best league, so it’s for the best.