Potential top 10 picks who could be around for the Rangers

While most of the top 10 selections the NHL Entry draft are pretty much established, there are a number of quality players who could slip out of the top 10 and be available when the New York Rangers pick.

The 2020 NHL Entry Draft is deep and there are a number of players whose ranking varies from the top five to later spots. These are the players that the New York Rangers will hope to get a crack at.

Of course, the big question is where the Rangers will pick.  They have two first round picks, theirs and Toronto’s (via Carolina).   If the season doesn’t resume points will probably not be the determining factor, it will be points percentage.

If you go by points percentage, the Rangers have the 12th worst total of the 15 teams out of the playoffs.   Another option being discussed is points percentage only for games that ended in regulation.  In that case the Rangers finish 13th.  The Toronto pick could be anywhere from 16th to 31st depending on how they do in the playoffs.

Today, we will look at the draft picks that could drop out of the top ten and slip into the Rangers’ grasp at the 12th or 13th pick.  For the ratings, we looked at the rankings by ten experts from hockey websites.  You can see the full list and links at the end of this article.  For this list we looked at players who were ranked in the top ten by at least some of the experts.

Cole Perfetti, Center – OHL

Cole Perfetti would be a perfect pick for the Rangers if they could luck into it., but the odds of that are slim.  Perfetti could easily be a top five pick in a different year.   The 18-year old center just finished his second season with the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL.   For the second straight year he scored 37 goals, but he doubled his assist total, finishing this season with 111 points.

Perfetti is 5’11”, 177 pounds so he needs to put on some weight, one of the issues some experts had with him, along with his skating ability.  Steve Kournianos of The Sporting News had Perfetti ranked the highest at third overall and said he is a “playmaker extraordinaire (who added)  to an already impressive pre-draft resume that was built off his goal scoring as a rookie a season ago.”   Craig Button of TSN is also high on him. “Perfetti’s hockey IQ is off the charts…He’s brilliant in every way. He won’t catch your eye with a lot of flash, but he has tremendous substance.”

All indications are that Perfetti will go top ten, but that means some other highly rated prospects will drop down, a good thing for the Rangers.

Jack Quinn, RW – OHL

A year after taking Kaapo Kakko as a top right winger, Jack Quinn is a prospect who could end up available when the Rangers get to pick.  Opinions about Quinn are mixed with Button of TSN ranking him sixth and NHL Central Scouting rating him the seventh best in North America.

Others have Quinn going 10th overall with Kornianos placing him 61st.  One of the reasons he has raised his profile is his play this season.  After an average rookie season with the Ottawa 67’s, he has been absolutely dominant, leading the OHL in goals with 52.

Pronman of The Athletic (subscription required) explained how Quinn moved up. “The main reason for his sudden rise in prospect stock has been the continued improvement in his skating to being arguably above-average when it used to be a weakness for him.”

Quinn is one of the older players available in the draft, turning 19 in September.  He is six feet tall, weighs 179 pounds and is a pure sniper. Chris Peters of ESPN cited his “great release ” and ability to “shoot well off the pass.” He is one of the big reasons that Ottawa has dominated in the OHL this season.