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.
Hendrix Lapierre, Center – QMJHL
We’ve talked about Lapierre as a potential Rangers target before on Blue Line Station. He’s another prospect who falls in a wide range of rankings, from tenth overall by TSN’s Craig Button to McKeen’s Hockey where he didn’t make the top 31.
One reason for the disparity is that he lost a lot of time to injury this season, playing in only 19 games for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL. At 6 feet, 181 pounds, he has good size, but scouts may be scared off by his two goals this season. He did add 17 assists in 19 games.
The 18-year old Lapierre built his reputation on his play at the the last Hlinka-Gretzky Tournament. Corey Pronman ranked him 15th, calling him a “highly skilled and intelligent two-way player,” but also said that he “lacks speed.”
He is one player who has suffered greatly by the COVID-19 pause. He would have benefited from a strong playoff with Chicoutimi expected to go deep, having finished third in the QMJHL this season. One sure fire reason to be cautious is his injury history including three concussions in a ten month period. Lapierre could drop significantly in the draft, but he is the definition of high risk/reward.
Anton Lundell, Center – Liiga (Finland)
With the Rangers propensity for picking European prospects, Lundell is an intriguing option. He is a center who will turn 19 in October, is 6’1″ and 185 pounds. As a teenager playing his second season in the professional Liiga, he scored ten goals and added 18 assists for 28 points in 44 games. Opinions of Lundell are uniformly good and some prognosticators have him going in the top ten.
Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News has him going fifth overall, mostly based on his performance in Liiga and the “great two-way potential” he displayed at last year’s WJC for the gold medal winning Finnish team. He missed this year’s tournament with an elbow injury.
NHL Central Scouting ranked him the third best European skater after Tim Stutzle and Alexander Holtz with ISS Hockey ranking him eighth overall and EliteProspects.com having him going ninth.
Chris Peters placed him tenth overall, saying “He doesn’t do any one thing that jumps out at you, but he thinks the game at a high level and plays well in all zones. … it comes back to that high-end hockey sense when ranking Lundell in this range.”
Meanwhile, Craig Button and Corey Pronman had him going 16th overall, well within the Rangers’ first round range. Sam Cosentino of Sportsnet had Lundell at 12th mostly because he is a safe pick and will be guaranteed to “at least be able to play effectively down in the lineup.”
Jake Sanderson, Defense – USHL
Jake Sanderson is the second highest ranked defenseman behind Jamie Drysdale. The son of former NHer Geoff Sanderson, he is committed to the University of North Dakota.
Most evaluators have Sanderson going from 10th to 13th, but it’s for his defense and not his offensive upside, though Steve Kournianos of the Sporting News cited his ability to run the power play. He still had him ranked 28th overall.
With the glut of defenseman in the Rangers’ system, the odds that he will be a Blueshirts’ pick are slim, but with their “best player available” philosophy, you never know.
Connor Zary, Center – WHL
Connor Zary is a highly regarded center who could be around when the Rangers pick. He turns 19 in September and has played three full seasons in the WHL for the Kamloop Blazers. With his age and experience, he will be ready to make the jump to pro hockey when he is drafted.
Zary is six feet, 180 pounds and has shown steady improvement in each of his three seasons in junior hockey. This shortened season he scored 38 goals and totaled 86 points in 57 games. McKeen’s Hockey has him as the ninth overall pick, though NHL Central Scouting has him as the 15 best North American skater. Craig Button also ranks Zary highly at 11th. Cory Pronman has him going tenth overall, calling him “a player with a ton of skill who has the quick hands to dazzle and create a highlight reel moment.” Pronman also cited how hard he plays, attacking the net.
If Zary had been born ten days earlier, he would have been eligible to be drafted last year. His displays a lot of the traits that are valued highly by Rangers coach David Quinn.
Dylan Holloway, Center – NCAA
Dylan Holloway was a teammate of K’Andre Miller’s at the University of Wisconsin so he should be very familiar to the Rangers. He’s another older player who just missed the 2019 Entry Draft.
The left handed shooting center had a solid freshman season with eight goals and 17 points in 35 games for a disappointing Wisconsin team. He has excellent size at 6’1″ and 201 pounds.
Holloway has his fans with Kournianos of the Sporting News ranking him 10th and the Hockey News and ESPN placed him 11th. Kournianos said “he can be an excellent passer with a wicked shot to boot.” A prototypical power forward, he was a dominant forward in Canadian Junior A hockey with 40 goals in 53 games in his last season.
He projects as a solid two-way center with “a good on-ice work ethic” according to Peters of ESPN. Still, a number of rankings had him going in the 17-20 range of the first round, well within reach of the Rangers.
Dawson Mercer, Right wing/center – QMJHL
Dawson Mercer is a teammate of Hendrix Lapierre with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL. Ranked the 10th best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, he was also highly ranked as 11th best by Corey Pronman and 12th best by ISS Hockey. He fell to 23rd by Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News and 33rd by Kournianos of the Sporting News.
Pronman’s said Mercer has “a lot of skill…not elite skill, but he can make defenders look silly. He’s a very smart player who moves the puck well inside the zone and has offensive creativity.” Chris Peters of ESPN was very complimentary, saying “Mercer hunts pucks with the best of them and can be a thorn in the side of the opposition. Once he has the puck, he can make some special things happen. He processes the game at a very high speed.” Peters project Mercer going 14th overall.
Mercer will be 19 years old in October and is six feet, 178 pounds. He was traded mid-season from the Drummondville Voltigeurs to Chicoutimi, going from a good team to one of the best in the QMJHL. Losing the playoffs will make Mercer a tougher pick to assess.
In 42 games for the two teams, he scored 24 goals and had 60 points. Mercer was a member of the gold medal winning team at the WJC, but didn’t help his draft rankings by going scoreless in seven games.
Rodion Amirov, Left wing – KHL
The last of our potential top ten picks who could fall to the Rangers is a Russian left winger, Rodion Amirov. Amirov is an 18-year old left winger who made it to the KHL last season.
After being a point a game player in the MHL (the Russian equivalent of the AHL), Amirov was promoted to the KHL and played 21 games for Salavat Yulaev Ufa where he is committed to play in the fall. He didn’t score a goal and had two assists.
He was ranked the fifth best European skater by NHL Central Scouting. He was ranked 13th overall by ISS Hockey and Eliteprospects.com, but the highest ranking came from Steve Kournanos of the Sporting News who had him at eighth overall.
He called Amirov “a sturdy, east-west winger who was critical in Russia’s taking of silver at the under-18 world championship last April.” Kournianos also said “Most teenagers like to avoid traffic but Amirov is a superior stickhandler who attacks it head-on. He is consistent in his efforts and decision making while dominating the puck.”
Corey Pronman ranked him 21st overall, down from 14th in his previous rankings. While he cites his “good speed and great shot,” Pronman also said that at club and international levels he has “been good, but not great.” Most of the other experts also see Amirov as a first rounder, but late, probably going from 16 to 26th overall.
Anyone who takes Amirov in the draft will be drafting potential and he is probably a player who will remain in Russia for a while.
What about the Rangers?
So these are the players who could slip into the first round where the Rangers will be drafting. While a Cole Perfetti would be a no-brainer for the Rangers managment, there are a few players who could be high reward picks that could end up going south.
Lapierre, with his concussion history, is an interesting choice and Amirov could be an excellent pick if the team is willing to wait for him.
Zary and Holloway are the most developed of the players mentioned and would be ready to make the jump to the AHL immediately, with an outside chance of making the varsity. The rest of the players would be picks for the future.
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Here is the list of 10 draft ranking websites we used. Click on the website name to see their full rankings.
Elite Prospects.com – The top 31 prospects ranked in April.
ESPN, Chris Peters – Top 50 players in the draft, ranked on January 29
The Hockey News, Ryan Kennedy – The top 31 players in the draft, ranked in January after the WJC.
ISS Hockey – March rankings of the top 31 players
McKeen’s Hockey, Ryan Wagman – The top 31 picks ranked midseason
NHL Central Scouting – The official final draft rankings divided between North American and European skaters and goalies.
The Sporting News, Steve Kournianos -Top 125 picks ranked in December..
Sportsnet, Sam Cosentino – He ranked the top 31 picks on April 8.
TSN, Craig Button – The TSN prospect guru revealed his top 103 picks on March 30.
The Athletic (subscription required) – Corey Pronman ranked the top 31 at the midseason on January 29