New York Rangers: A lottery miracle as the Blueshirts get the second pick
By Steve Paulus
Good fortune finally smiled on the New York Rangers when the ping pong balls determined that the Blueshirts were lottery winners. They will get the second pick in the June entry draft.
The New York Rangers have the second pick in the draft for the first time since they selected Brad Park in 1966. In some ways it will be a relief as the New Jersey Devils, who won the first pick, will have to decide between Jack Hughes or Kaako Kappo and the Rangers will get the player that the Devils don’t take.
Either way, the Rangers will end up with a potential gamebreaking franchise player. Any frustration over the Devils lucking out with their second top pick in three years was gone when the Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks for the second pick.
The draft lottery was televised live on NBCSN and they tried to keep the suspense going. When they introduced the team representatives, Devils GM Ray Shero was giggling uncontrollably, a sure indication that they were a lottery winner. To his credit, Jeff Gorton maintained a poker face, though inside he must have been exploding.
All three finalists moved up from their original positions. The Blackhawks lucked out the most, moving up from 12th to third. The Rangers jumped from sixth to second and the Devils moved from third to first.
Teams that moved down in the draft included Vancouver, Anaheim, Edmonton, Buffalo, Detroit and Los Angeles. Colorado, who had Ottawa’s pick and first place in the reverse standings, dropped from first to fourth.
Hughes or Kakko?
Although Jack Hughes was anointed the top pick by NBC Sports, many hockey insiders have said that Kaapo Kakko has pulled even with Hughes and could go first overall. The fact that Hughes is a center and Kakko a right wing could affect the drafting decision. Two years ago, the Devils went against the grain in selected Nico Hischier over the consensus top pick, Nolan Patrick.
Hughes is a special player with great vision and puck possession ability. He was the captain of the U.S. National Under 18 team and had 23 goals and 86 points in 41 games. He turns 18 years old in May and is still growing at 5’10” and 170 pounds. He has been likened to Patrick Kane and Johnny Gaudreau. Some scouts have compared his skating ability to that of Connor McDavid.
Kaapo Kakko just turned 18 and played this season with TPS in the Finnish Liiga league. As a 17-year old playing in a man’s league, Kakko had 22 goals and 38 points in 45 games. Those 22 goals were good for seventh overall in Liiga. He excelled at the WJC with two goals and three assists and scored the gold medal game winning goal against Hughes and Team USA. Kakko is a lefty shooter who plays right wing. He’s big at 6’2″ and 190 pounds.
A great rivalry
No matter which team picks Hughes and which team picks Kakko, it promises to make the cross-Hudson rivalry between the Rangers and the Devils even greater. The word is that these young men are not just great hockey players, but are also tremendous competitors and having them competing for headlines in the world’s greatest media market makes for a fabulous future.
Meanwhile, Ranger fans can be content knowing that they have finally broken the jinx that has plagued this team for years. Hughes or Kakko, the addition of one of these players will accelerate the rebuild that much more and will make this off-season even more fascinating and promising than it was before.