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New York Rangers: Ranking the prospects by tiers

By John Williams

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 7: Filip Chytil
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 7: Filip Chytil /
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EVERETT, WA – NOVEMBER 25: Vancouver Giants forward Ty Ronning (7) skates towards the benches during a game between the Vancouver Giants and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington. Everett defeated Vancouver by a final score of 5-2. (Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
EVERETT, WA – NOVEMBER 25: Vancouver Giants forward Ty Ronning (7) skates towards the benches during a game between the Vancouver Giants and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington. Everett defeated Vancouver by a final score of 5-2. (Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Tier 5

Olof Lindbom, Ty Ronning, Jacob Ragnarsson, Michael Lindqvist, Morgan Barron

This tier is for players that are going to be, at the very least, very good AHL players and/or solid depth pieces in NHL lineups.

Ty Ronning is a guy who could exemplify all of this starting in 2018.

The little guy, standing in at just 5-foot-9 (which is probably being generous), has some big shoes to fill. His father, Cliff, had a tremendous NHL career where he tallied 305 goals and 563 assists in 1137 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders.

Ty has a high motor and has always been known for his work ethic. He has been a respected leader for the Vancouver Giants over his WHL career and has some sneaky good offensive ability. Think of a poor man’s Mats Zuccarello.

Ronning will turn 21 in October. He hopes to make the team out of camp this year.

Olof Lindbom deserves to be in this tier as well based on how mature he is at age 18.

Known for his stout positioning in net and his hockey IQ, Lindbom definitely has a chance to be a player at the NHL in the future. It’s just going to take a long while for him to get there.

Goalies generally take longer than position players to develop, and Lindbom still needs to grow into his body and continue to get some reps. He’s a bit smaller than most of today’s goalies at just 6-foot-1, but so is Henrik Lundqvist and it hasn’t hindered him.

The jury is out on if he could be an NHL starter. Time will tell, but it is definitely reasonable to believe he could develop into a quality backup at the very least.

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