New York Rangers: North American prospect report card part 1

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: General Manager Jeff Gorton of the New York Rangers looks on from the draft table during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: General Manager Jeff Gorton of the New York Rangers looks on from the draft table during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
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BUFFALO, NY – JUNE 25: Jeff Gorton of the New York Rangers attends the 2016 NHL Draft on June 25, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY – JUNE 25: Jeff Gorton of the New York Rangers attends the 2016 NHL Draft on June 25, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Last week, I took a deep dive into the New York Rangers’ prospects playing in Europe. The Rangers have even more prospects playing in North America. In the first half of this series, I will be grading the forwards in the Rangers’ system.

The New York Rangers have a very… decent talent pool. Their European prospects grade well overall, but the Rangers also have plenty of youth in North America. This article will be my grading of the forward group.  In my next article, I will look at defensemen and goaltenders playing in North America.

Here is the criteria for making the grade. I evaluated players under the age of 25 and only those not in the NHL. I chose these two limits to weed out players who are still young, but have firmly cemented their place in the lineup, like Filip Chytil and Brett Howden, or simply don’t seem to have much ahead of them, like Steven Fogarty.

Prospecting is never an exact science, so these players may turn out as top-six forwards or never make it to the league. I graded these prospects based on my opinion of both their current skill and their ceiling.

*All of these stats are from EliteProspects.com and are to date as of Jan. 31st, 2019*