New York Rangers: Ranking the prospects by tiers

Tier 8

Ryan Gropp, Dominik Lakatos, Brandon Halverson, Vince Pedrie, Steven Fogarty, Chris Nell, Tarmo Reunanen, Calle Sjalin.

This tier is the players who will truly be fighting to remain relevant in the prospect world in 2018-19. The two most well known names in this tier are wing Ryan Gropp and goalie Brandon Halverson.

Gropp, who’ll turn 22 in mid-September, looks like he’ll become a huge bust.

The Rangers selected the Canadian born wing with the 41st pick of the 2015 draft. The team traded away Carl Hagelin so they could move up to select the forward.

Gropp put up some sexy numbers with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL in his draft year (30 goals and 28 assists in 67 games), and his production kept increasing year-after-year.

Their was writing on the wall all along that Gropp’s numbers were inflamed by his steady linemate. His name was Matthew Barazal. Ever hear of him?

As for Halverson, the 59th overall pick in the 2014 draft, has become an afterthought to the organization. Once thought to be the heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist, Halverson’s production has fallen off a cliff. It’s gotten so bad for Halverson that he barely posted a .900 save percentage in 24 ECHL games in 2017-18.

Halverson becomes an RFA at the end of the 2018-19 season but unless he fixes up his game quickly, the Rangers might not tender him a qualifying offer.