New York Rangers: How good are the kids?

The New York Rangers have more top prospects in their system than they have had in years.  It’s time to take a look and see what the hockey world thinks of these young players.

In looking at the New York Rangers prospect pool there are always differences of opinion.  Let’s just call this a guide to what the top talent assessors think of the players in the Rangers development pool.

We will only be dealing with players already in the system so we won’t include Kaapo Kakko.  We’ve decided to sample the hockey rankings acknowledged to be among the best in the business.

Here’s who are providing the rankings:

Craig Button, Director of Scouting for TSN – On January 15, 2019, Button ranked the top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects.  Button had four Rangers on his list.

Steve Kournianos, The Sporting News –  These rankings of the top 50 players in the NHL pipelines was released in September, 2018, before the season started so they include a number of players who made their NHL debuts this season including Rasmus Dahlin and Elias Pettersson.

Chris Peters, ESPN –  Peters ranked the top 50 NHL prospects March, 2019.   The Rangers placed four players in his top 50.  He had Colorado prospect Cale Makar as the top player on his list.

Corey Pronman, The Athletic – Pronman is a highly respected talent evaluator.  He published his most recent assessment of top NHL prospects in NHL organizations on January 15, 2019.  He also ranked the top goaltending prospects separately. Five Rangers made Pronman’s list. The Athletic is behind a paywall.

NHL Network – The NHL Network released a list of the top 50 prospects in August 2018. Like the Sporting News rankings, the list includes several players how made it to the NHL this season including Filip Chytil at number 16.

Dobber Hockey – This is one of the most respected websites when it comes to ranking players for fantasy hockey purposes.  Dobber is constantly ranking players and has monthly updates for defensemen, forwards and goaltenders.