A “Not the New York Rangers All-Star team”
The New York Rangers organization gets a lot of heat from fans for making bad draft picks and failing to develop prospects. In the past the team has given up on prospects who blossomed elsewhere. How have they been doing recently?
Nothing irks fans more than a former prospect who becomes a star after leaving the New York Rangers. There’s a long history of the team giving up on a prospect who went on to excel for another team. The list can be nausea-inducing: Rick Middleton, Dave Gagner, Tony Amonte, Mark Tinordi, Todd Marchant, Kim Johnsson, Tony Granato, Kelly Miller, Kjell Samuelsson, Doug Weight, Mattias Norstrom, Sergei Zubov, Fedor Tyutin and Manny Malhotra,
Many of these players were traded with the Blueshirts in a “win-now” mode, a worthy excuse for giving up a prospect if you actually win. For that reason, as good as Tony Amonte, Todd Marchant and Doug Weight became, it was worth it because they were traded for players who won a Stanley Cup.
The truly depressing ones are when the Rangers gave up on a player too soon, sending him elsewhere for little return in an exchange of warm bodies with the proverbial “change in scenery” as a justification. Dave Gagner, Mark Tinordi and Manny Malhotra fall into that category.
Then you have the bad deals and we won’t talk about those except to acknowledge that Rick Middleton is the poster child for bad hockey trades.
The current players
There are nine former Ranger draft picks currently playing for other NHL teams. Four others are in the minor leagues or Europe. Here is the “Ex-Ranger Prospect All-Star Team,” starting with the top three forwards.
J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks – 1st Round, 2015, # 15
J.T. Miller makes the all-star team because of his outstanding season in Vancouver. He is headed for a career season with 13 goals and 31 points in 33 games. He is playing left wing on a line with Elias Pettersson and at this rate, will finish with 34 goals and 80 points.
Miller brought a combination of physical play and a scoring touch in his six years in New York along with propensity for making bonehead plays. He scored 22 goals in his best season with the Rangers and was part of the February 2018 deal with Tampa. One reason he was included was his need for a new contract and Tampa gave him five-year, $26.5 million deal that forced his trade to the Canucks this summer.
What Miller has proved since he left New York is that he excels when he plays with the best players. He was a point-a-game player when teamed with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, just as he is in Vancouver playing with Pettersson.
Though Miller would be an asset if still with the team, that trade is still paying dividends for the Rangers. Ranger fans can regret the deal, but it remains to be seen if Miller’s production will stay at this level. It didn’t in Tampa.
Derek Stepan, Arizona Coyotes – 2nd Round, 2008, #51
The reason Derek Stepan is no longer a New York Ranger is the salary cap. The team was forced to trade him before a No Trade Clause kicked in and he was sent to Arizona with Antti Raanta in exchange for a first round pick (Lias Andersson) and Anthony DeAngelo.
This is an example of a trade working out for both teams. Stepan has continued to play at the same level he did with New York as a defensively conscientious center with the ability to score. While he was shoehorned into the role of number one center with the Rangers, he will never embarrass you with his play.
He scored some big goals as a New York Ranger and continues to play well though his numbers are off this season. With five goals and 11 points in 35 games, he is not a prolific scorer, but he is a mainstay on an Arizona team that is in first place in the Pacific Division.
Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators – 3rd Round, 2013, #80
Anthony Duclair almost falls into the “one that got away” category. He was traded to Arizona for Keith Yandle in a trade deadline deal that almost paid off big time for the Blueshirts when they fell just short of making it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Duclair was a failure in Arizona and became a journeyman, playing in Chicago and Columbus before ending up with Ottawa last season. In what was likely to be his last shot in the NHL, Duclair has become the goal scorer everyone expected when he made the Rangers out of training camp in 2014 at age 19.
Duclair has exploded with 18 goals this season and is headed towards a 40 goal season. He notched the third hat trick of his career in a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday. It was sweet revenge for Duclair who was ripped by John Tortorella when he was with Columbus.
This is what Tortorella said: “I don’t think he knows how to play, I just think he thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants on the ice. He can’t do it in the National Hockey League. We have spent a lot of time trying to teach him, trying to teach him situational play, away from the puck, all the stuff we do with players. Sometimes it looks like he’s understanding. I don’t know if he just can’t comprehend it or he’s just stubborn. But he’s running out of time.”
Take that Torts.
The defense
With all of the outstanding defensemen in the Rangers system, you can be sure that we will be adding to this list in the coming seasons.
Ryan Graves, Colorado Avalanche – 4th Round 2013, # 110
Ryan Graves definitely falls into the “one who got away” category. Graves is a player the Rangers gave up on and traded away for that change in scenery. In February 2018 the Blueshirts traded Graves to Colorado for Chris Bigras in a swap of minor league blueliners.
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Bigras is no longer with the organization. What has Graves done? After playing well as a fill-in defenseman in his rookie season last year, this year he has become a regular blueliner for the second place Avalanche. He plays on the second defense pairing with Ian Cole and has shown an offensive upside with five goals and seven assists in 31 games.
Graves has one of the hardest shots in hockey and won the hardest shot contest at the AHL All-Star Game. Why the 6’5″, 220 pound defenseman never got a chance in New York is a mystery, but this is one player the team has to regret giving up on. Oh yes, he leads the NHL in plus/minus with +23.
Michael Del Zotto, Anaheim Ducks – 1st Round 2008, # 20
Michael Del Zotto was a first round pick who had his best season as a 21-year old New York Ranger and has never equaled that in his 11 year NHL career. After getting off to a great start to his career, he had a couple mediocre seasons so the Rangers traded him to Nashville for Kevin Klein in 2014. The trade worked out of the Rangers as Klein was a blueline stalwart during the Rangers’ playoff runs in 2014 and 2015.
As for Del Zotto, he has bounced around the NHL, playing for Nashville, Philadelphia, Vancouver, St Louis and now he is on his second stint in Anaheim. Last year he was a deadline acquisition by the Blues, but didn’t get into a single playoff game during the Blues’ run to the championship.
After 11 years in the NHL it’s hard to believe that Del Zotto is still only 29. He is playing semi-regularly for the Anaheim Ducks with one goal and five points in 22 games. In Saturday’s game against the Ranger, the former Blueshirt absolutely wiped out Jesper Fast with a body check.
Still, five years after being traded, the Rangers have no regrets about making that deal.
Goalies
For a team with one of the deepest talent pools in net, the Rangers have been pretty good about holding on to their goalie prospects. For this All-Star team, we will have to dip into the minor leagues.
Brandon Halverson, Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) – 2nd Round 2014, #59
Brandon Halverson was a highly regarded second round draft pick who had been one of the better goalies in the OHL for the Soo Greyhounds. He signed his Entry Level Contract in 2015 and spent three years in the Rangers minor league system bouncing between the ECHL and AHL.
He got into one NHL game, playing the last 13 minutes of a 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators in relief of Henrik Lundqvist. That appearance on February 17, 2018 has been his only shot at the NHL. He played 12:33 and allowed one goal.
His career as a Ranger prospect ended this summer when he was not offered a contract after splitting the season between Maine and Hartford. This year he signed with Norfolk of the ECHL and recently was given a tryout by the Providence Bruins of the AHL.
With all of the outstanding goaltending prospects in the Rangers system, released Halverson was a no-brainer and hopefully he will have a decent minor league career.
The bench
That’s it for the starting five. There are still other former prospects who could fill in. Among the forwards there is Brandon Dubinsky (2nd Round, 2004 #60) who has had a long career with the Columbus Blue Jackets since being traded there in the Rick Nash deal.
Dubinsky is now 33 and is in the twilight of his career. He has had to endure several injuries and is on injured reserve this season with a wrist injury with no timetable for a return. A 24 goal scorer in his best year for the Rangers, he has never equaled that with the Blue Jackets.
Artem Anisimov (2nd Round, 2006 #54) was also part of the deal for Rick Nash and was later dealt from Columbus to the Blackhawks. This summer he was traded to Ottawa after three productive seasons in Chicago. The 31 year old Russian has been hampered by injuries this year, limiting him to 15 games this season. He has scored four goals and added one assist.
The Rangers probably have always regretted having to trade away Carl Hagelin (6th Round, 2007 #168) in 2015 due to salary cap constraints. He was swapped for Emerson Etem, a deal that definitely didn’t work out in the Rangers’ favor. He found no success in Anaheim, but has gone on to be a productive member of three Stanley Cup Championship teams in Pittsburgh and Washington.
Never a top goal scorer, he has yet to dent the twines with Washington this season, but is still a valuable penalty killer and defensive forward. He still has explosive speed and at age 31 he is the kind of player who will always find a contending team looking for his services. Hagelin is the perfect example of the impact of the salary cap with the Rangers forced to trade a productive player that they drafted and developed.
Believe it or not, defenseman Dylan McIlrath (1st Round, 2010 #10) is in the NHL. McIlrath will go down as one of the biggest draft busts in Ranger history, but this season he has played 16 games for the worst team in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings.
The Rangers gave up on McIlrath in November, 2016, sending him to Florida in exchange for Steven Kampfer. Florida traded him to Detroit and this season, he has found a role as a spare defenseman. No matter what McIlrath does for Detroit, the deal has to be rated a success as it removed a draft disaster from the organization and they got some useful games out of Kampfer.
Three more Ranger prospects are out there, but not in the NHL. 31 year old winger Dale Wiese (4th Round, 2008 # 111) is playing for the Laval Rocket of the AHL after nine years in the NHL for five teams. MacKenzie Skapski (6th Round, 2013 # 170) has one of the more bizarre career stat lines in NHL history. He started two games for the Rangers in the 2014-15 season, both against Buffalo. One game was a shutout and the second game he gave up one goal. Two starts, two wins, a 0.50 goals against average and a .978 save percentage.
After that debut, he was returned to the AHL and his minor league career went downhill leading to his release by the Rangers. He was last seen playing in the Slovak league.
Most Ranger fans don’t remember Nigel Dawes (5th Round, 2003 #149). He played two seasons in New York and ended his NHL career playing five seasons for New York, Phoenix, Calgary, Atlanta and Montreal. It’s what happened after he left the NHL that is distinctive. He has played nine years in the KHL for Astana Barys and Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg and holds the distinction of being the second highest career goal scorer in KHL history with 238 goals. He is fifth all-time with 436 points and third with a 0.50 goals per game average. Even this season, at 34 years old, he has scored 14 goals and 25 points in 34 games.
The future all-stars
The fact that there are only nine former Ranger draft picks playing in the NHL is proof that the Rangers mortgaged their future by trading away draft picks. If we expanded this list to include players drafted with New York picks that were dealt away, it would be a much better team.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that with one of the best prospect pools in the NHL, the current Rangers organization boasts of players who will inevitably make it elsewhere. The bottom line is the Rangers didn’t have the prospects to trade and now they have an overabundance.
The key is making the right deals at the right time, just like they did in 1994. It all starts in February.
Must Read. Lundqvist's shootout record. light