Prospect notes and a look at some former Blueshirts

There is some news to report on former and future New York Rangers.  Here’s a look at what’s been happening in Blueshirts world.

It’s time to take a look at what is going on with New York Rangers prospects and some former players.  Although the big league team is going through some growing pains, there are reasons for optimism.

Prospects

2019 fourth round draft pick Hunter Skinner is in his first season with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League and is averaging a point a game in his first dozen games. He’s not considered a rookie in the OHL since he is 18 years old, but he one of the top scoring first year players.  He is ninth overall among defensemen in scoring. The 6’3″, right handed shooting defenseman looks like he could be a sleeper mid-draft pick.

Also in the OHL, defenseman Nico Gross is continuing his excellent play for the Oshawa Generals.  He had a three assist weekend and is the leading scoring defenseman for the Generals who are in first place in the OHL East Division.  The 19-year old has stepped up his offensive production in his third year in Oshawa with five goals and seven assists. He has already exceeded his top goal total and he already has 12 points with a career high of 20 in reach.

2019 second round pick Karl Henriksson continues to tear up the SuperElit league in Sweden. He has five goals and 18 assists for 23 points in 17 games.   He is third in the league in scoring and has the most assists of any player in the Swedish equivalent of Canadian Juniors hockey.

Morgan Barron’s (6th round, 2017) season at Cornell hasn’t started yet with the first game vs. Michigan State on Friday.  In two pre-season games Barron notched a power play goal and added an assist. The 20-year old junior is one of the best forward prospects in the Rangers system playing in North America and could turn pro after this season.

More on Kravtsov

Vitali Kravtsov was interviewed by the Russian Sports-Express website.  Without an accurate translation it’s difficult to know the nuances of what Kravtsov had to say, but there has been a lot of internet chatter. 

He raised a curious issue about his heart rate note getting to a level that the Wolf Pack wanted during workouts and that resulted in his benching while in Hartford.  Coincidentally, he deleted all of his Rangers pictures from his Instagram account.  Despite all of that, the good news is he seems to harbor no ill will against the Rangers, but felt that a return to the KHL would help him become a better player.

It’s probably best to let all of the Kravtsov speculation subside and just see how he does playing for Traktor.  If anything, the team could use him as they are mired in last place in the East Division with a record of 9-14-2.  Kravtsov has yet to see any action with the team.

Former Rangers

Kevin Shattenkirk will be back in Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, wearing the blue and while of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  He’s off to a decent start with Tampa with four goals and seven points in ten games.

The trade to Ottawa has revived Vladislav Namestnikov‘s career.  in nine games with the Senators he has scored four goals and added three assists.   He is a regular on the second line and is playing 19 minutes a game.  In his 99 games in New York, he averaged 15 minutes per game.  Let’s see if he keeps it up.  if he does, he will be valuable deadline trade bait for the Senators.

Kevin Hayes scored only one goal in his first six games with the Flyers and it raised questions about his big contract.  Over his last four games, the ex-Ranger has gotten hot with six points including three goals.

An injury ridden Buffalo team promoted John Gilmour and he played his first game on Friday. Gilmour was an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Sabres over the summer.   The defenseman skated 17 minutes in Buffalo’s 2-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings

Connor Brickley is off to Europe.   He didn’t make the Rangers or the Wolf Pack on a professional tryout this fall, so he has signed a one year contract with AC Salzburg in the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL).  Brickley played 14 games for the Rangers last season after coming over from the Predators organization in a trade for Cole Schneider.

There are quite a few other former Blueshirts in the NHL, but none are making much news in their current roles.  We’ll keep tabs on them as well as the prospects in the Rangers’ pipeline.