New York Rangers: North American Prospect Report Card Part 2

Last week, I graded the New York Rangers’ forward prospects playing in North America. While the forwards left much to be desired, the defensemen and goaltenders are much more talented.

The New York Rangers have an overall medium-sized prospect pool. The forward pool is fairly shallow other than a few bright spots in Vitali Kravtsov, Brett Howden, and Filip Chytil. Both of Howden and Chytil have cemented their places in the Rangers’ lineup, and Kravtsov still plays in the KHL.

This report card is focused on the Rangers’ defense and goaltending prospects playing in North America. In recent moves, general manager Jeff Gorton has focused on acquiring a plethora of defensive prospects; he has drafted a ton of defensemen and traded for skaters from other organizations.

Seeing as how poorly the Rangers’ defense has played this season, the organization’s focus on acquiring young, promising defenders is a good look for them. The goaltenders playing in North America pale in comparison to Russian standout Igor Shestyorkin, but there is still plenty of talent between the four netminders.

Now, in the final part of this three-part series, I give my thoughts on the Rangers’ defenders and goalies playing in North America.

*All statistics here are to date as of Feb. 7, 2019 via EliteProspects*