New York Rangers Draft Preview: Two years of unconventional picks
The New York Rangers have stockpiled draft picks for the last two years, but when it came time to make the picks the team went off the board and made selections no one had anticipated. What does that mean for this year?
After five straight years without a first round draft pick, the New York Rangers had five first rounders in two years. In each case the Blueshirts went the unconventional route and made controversial picks. How about this June when they have two more first rounders?
Every year there are pre-draft rankings published from every news organization that covers hockey. They supplement the rankings provided by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau, a centralized database available to all NHL teams.
The standard is for teams to make “safe” choices that most of the prognosticators agree upon. Not the New York Rangers. For two straight years they have disregarded the pundits and gone with their own analysis. It’s too early to proclaim success or failure, but there are early signs of both.
This June there is one guarantee. The Rangers will NOT go off the board with the second overall draft pick. They will select either Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko, depending on who the New Jersey Devils take first. If they don’t, they will be the laughingstock of the NHL.
Their second pick is 20th overall and it remains to be seen if they will make a safe pick that the experts have agreed upon.
Let’s look at how far off the board they did go with their five first round picks the last two years.
Lias Andersson and the 2017 draft.
In 2017 the Rangers had the seventh overall pick, acquired in a draft day trade with Arizona. The Blueshirts stunned their fanbase by selecting Lias Andersson. While he was predicted to be a first round pick, no one had him as high as seventh overall.
Here’s where some of the top talent assessors had Andersson.
- #11 – Sportsnet (Jeff Marek)
- # 15 – ESPN (Corey Pronman)
- #17 – McKeen’s
- #17 – The Hockey News (Ryan Kennedy)
- #18 – TSN (Craig Button)
- #25 – ISS Hockey
NHL Central Scouting ranks North American and European prospects on different lists and they had Andersson as the third best European prospect.
In picking Andersson, the Rangers avoided some safe choices who were all ranked higher including Casey Mittelstadt, Michael Rasmussen, Gabriel Vilardi and Martin Necas. While none of those players have set the league on fire, Andersson has had his struggles.
While Ranger fans are quick to criticize the choice of Andersson, it is really too early to pass judgment. He has played in just 49 NHL games and is still only 20 years old. 19 out of the 31 players selected in the first round that year have played fewer than ten games in the NHL. Andersson has been a victim of high expectations, but the next two years will be tell us if the Rangers made a mistake.
The pick that no one predicted
When the Rangers took Czech prospect Filip Chytil with their second first round pick at #21, it was met with quizzical looks.
The 17-year old was an unknown to most fans though he had his supporters. Craig Button of TSN had ranked Chytil as the 20th best player so he clearly agreed with the Rangers assessment. Corey Pronman of ESPN had ranked Chytil 31st. The Czech didn’t make any of the other top rankings.
NHL Central Scouting ranked Chytil as the 11th best European skater, but that was up from his prior ranking of 15th.
Clearly, the Ranger scouts knew something. Chytil has already established himself as one of the success stories from the 2017 draft. His 12 goals are surpassed by only four players in the entire draft and all by players taken among the top eight picks.
Three first rounders in 2018
With the first year of the rebuild in full force, the Rangers ended up with three first round picks for the first time in their history. Their own pick was ninth overall and they also 26th and 28th picks acquired in the Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh trades. Once again, the Rangers didn’t play it safe and made picks that were unexpected.
Vitali Kravtsov at ninth overall
When the Rangers took Vitali Kravtsov with the ninth pick, most Ranger fans were apoplectic. While highly regarded by the draft experts, no one had him ranked as high as ninth.
- #15 – The Athletic (Cory Pronman)
- #16 – McKeen’s (Ryan Wagman)
- #17 – The Sporting News (Steve Kournianos)
- #23 – ESPN (Chris Peters)
- #24 – The Hockey News (Ryan Kennedy)
NHL Central Scouting had Kravtsov as the third best European skater in the draft.
Kournianos of the Sporting News said that Kravtsov could be a top ten pick except for his KHL contract.
Pronman had the best opinion of Kravtsov, saying “he finished with one of the best postseasons I’ve ever seen from a teenager in a pro league, becoming a go-to player for his KHL team.”
It might have been the KHL playoffs that sealed the deal for the Rangers though the pick was met with derision by fans who preferred higher ranked forward Oliver Wahlstrom or defensemen Noah Dobson and Evan Bouchard.
So, how has it worked out so far? Kravtsov just signed his entry level contract and is expected to be a top six forward this fall. In January, TSN’s Craig Button ranked Kravtsov the top NHL-affiliated prospect in all of hockey, well ahead of the players the fans wanted. In his mid-season rankings, Pronman had Kravtsov as the 11th best NHL prospect, right behind Colorado’s Cale Makar who starred in the playoffs.
The Rangers appear to have struck gold with this pick.
Trading up to get K’Andre Miller
The Rangers wanted K’Andre Miller so badly that they gave up their #26 first round pick and a second round pick (#48) to Ottawa in exchange for the Senators’ 22nd pick. Some observers were concerned that the team gave up a second round pick just to move up four slots, but the team feared that Miller would be gone by then, so they made the deal.
K’Andre Miller was not such an off the board pick. Opinions were divided on where he would go in the draft, but most had him going later than 22nd.. Here’s a sample:
- #17 – ESPN (Chris Peters)
- #17 – McKeen’s Hockey (Ryan Wagman)
- #26 – The Hockey News (Ryan Kennedy)
- #32 – The Sporting News (Steve Kournianos)
- #35 – The Athletic (Cory Pronman)
NHL Central Scouting had ranked Miller as the 23rd best North American skater.
The wide deviation in opinions seemed to be mostly based on the fact that Miller had converted to defense just two years earlier. Pronman call him “a great athlete and one of the better skating defensemen in the entire draft.” He called him a “home run swing of sorts as an NHL prospect” and in this case, the Rangers were clearly swinging for the fences.
So far, Miller has justified the Rangers’ faith in him. In his freshman year at Wisconsin he was named the national rookie of the month in November and December and made the Big Ten all-rookie team. He did this despite injuring his knee and missing the last month of the season.
To some, Miller was an off the board pick, but there were enough experts who saw him being gone before the Rangers had their crack at him.
Nils Lundkvist another unexpected pick
The last first round pick in the 2018 draft was the 28th pick acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers picked their second defenseman of the first round in Nils Lundkvist, a Swedish blueliner playing for Lulea in the Swedish Hockey League.
Most experts had Lundkvist going much later in the draft, but a couple had him around the spot he was taken.
- #27 – McKeen’s Hockey (Ryan Wagman)
- #29 – ESPN (Chris Peters)
- #51 – The Hockey News (Ryan Kennedy)
- #64 – The Sporting News (Steve Kournianos)
- #73 – The Athletic (Cory Pronman)
NHL Central Scouting ranked Lundkvist as the 14th best European skater. Not great, but it was a big improvement on his mid-season ranking of #41.
Pronman was very critical of Lundkvist, saying “there isn’t a ton of upside in his game due to his size and talent level.” He actually had added Lundkvist to his “Do Not Draft” list, but revised it after looking at his skating ability upon the urging of some NHL scouts.
Lundkvist has been an under-the-radar pick for New York. He had a solid season in the SHL and is playing top four minutes as an 18 year old. It remains to be seen if the Rangers erred in taking him with the 28th pick. Some expert have likened him to Anton Stralman. Ranger fans can only wish.
What to look for
So, with five first round picks in two years, the New York Rangers went off the boards with at least four of the picks. It’s important to note that the one pick that could be seen as “safer” was K’Andre Miller. The four unexpected picks were all from Europe.
The willingness to pick unconventional European prospects is a rousing endorsement of the Director of European Scouting, Nickolai Bobrov. If Vitali Kravtsov turns out to be as good as expected, that faith is well deserved.
There are a number of “safe” prospects who will be around when the Rangers pick 20th on June 21. Don’t be surprised if the Rangers choose to go ignore the safe route. They’ve done it before.
Related Story. Top prospects that could be moved. light