Redrafting the New York Rangers part 3: Rebuilding a contender
2014 – Original Selection #59 Brandon Halverson
In the summer immediately after the Los Angeles heartbreak, the New York Rangers drafted Brandon Halverson out of the OHL
To date, Brandon Halverson has played in one game NHL game and that was simply to relieve a shell-shocked Henrik Lundqvist. In 13 minutes played, Halverson allowed one goal and made five saves.
Goalie development is a gamble. Each goaltender finds their stride at a different point. I don’t see anything ‘wrong’ with the selection, especially at the time, but Halverson was going to have a difficult job cracking the New York Rangers lineup.
What’s ironic is that the Rangers drafted another goalie in the same year who will has a chance to become a New York legend. In the fourth-round, the New York Rangers selected Igor Shesterkin with the 118th pick. If Shesterkin continues to develop this could end up being one of the most memorable drafts in New York Rangers history.
As for Halverson, he wasn’t given a qualifying offer by the Rangers had has been playing in the AHL.
New Selection: Brayden Point
Originally selected with the 79th pick in the draft, Brayden Point has turned out to arguably be a top five player from the draft. The Calgary native has 262 points in only 295 games played. Point has the third highest PPG from the draft class, behind only Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak, and the fourth highest point total only behind Draisaitl, Pastrnak and Dylan Larkin.
Brayden Point is the perfect ‘hindsight player.’
Draft Note:
The Rangers traded their 2014 and 2015 first-round picks away with Ryan Callahan in order to acquire Martin St. Louis. The 2014 pick was initially a conditional second-round pick. If the New York Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, which they did, the second-round pick would become a first-round pick, which it did.
Other notable players available:
#108 Devon Toews, #112 Viktor Arvidsson, #116 Danton Heinen, #138 Oskar Lindbolm, #171 Kevin Labanc, #205 Ondrej Kase
2015 – Original Selection #41 Ryan Gropp
In 2015, the New York Rangers had Ryan Gropp listed as the sixth-best forward prospect in the entire draft. The Rangers traded up to acquire Gropp with the 41st pick with the hopes that Gropp would be the steal of the draft.
Fast-forward to October 2019 and Gropp has yet to crack the NHL lineup. He’s struggled at the AHL level and was suspended by the Hartford Wolf Pack for failing to report to the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate the Maine Mariners.
The journey has been a back breaking one for the winger, but at 23, Gropp could still bounce back and breakout. He’s a Restricted Free Agent and it remains to be seen if the Blueshirts will offer him a new contract.
New Selection: Jordan Greenway
Jack Eichel’s and Brady Tkachuk’s one-time teammate and linemate at Boston University, Jordan Greenway is a physical force. At 6’6″ and 225 pounds, Greenway makes his presence known on the ice. Thehockeywriters.com compared him to Milan Lucic and thought that he could have been drafted late in the first-round.
Greenway has played nearly two full seasons with the Minnesota Wild now and has situated himself comfortably as a bottom-six player at only 23-years old.
Born in Canton, NY Jordan Greenway would be a hometown favorite. He’s someone the Rangers should consider acquiring in the future; especially since David Quinn was his former coach at BU.
Other notable players available:
#42 Mackenzie Blackwood, #46 Daniel Sprong, #49 Roope Hintz, #53 Rasmus Andersson, #72 Anthony Cirelli
2016 – Original Selection #81: Sean Day
In 2013, Sean Day was given exceptional status to play in the Ontario Hockey League a year early. The only players to have ever been given exceptional status in the OHL are John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid and future draft pick – Shane Wright. Minus Wright, that’s some pretty proven company.
However, unlike the trio before him, Sean Day was not drafted first-overall in either his OHL draft or the NHL draft.
Scouts saw a solid player in Day, but felt that the pieces to the Sean Day-puzzle just hadn’t come together yet. He had been slated to be drafted in the second-round in the 2016 NHL draft, but slipped all the way to the third.
Sean Day has bounced around between the AHL and ECHL since he’s made the leap to playing professionally. The New York Rangers had hoped that he would finally hit that extra gear and live up to that exceptional status potential, but at 22, Sean Day still continued to frustrate the organization.
At the end of May of this year, the New York Rangers placed Sean Day on unconditional waivers after both sides mutually agreed to terminate his contract.
Sean Day could still be a viable player one day – it won’t be with the Rangers – but here’s hoping the skilled prospect figures it out elsewhere.
Update:
Sean Day was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightning on 7/17/2020 to a one-year, two-way contract for $700,000.
Tampa Bay might as well change their name to Tampa Bay Rangers at this point.
New Selection: Victor Mete
At 5’9″ and 187 pounds, Victor Mete is most certainly an undersized defenseman. However, he has a great deal of skill and strong hockey IQ. His biggest fault to his game at the NHL-level is his turnovers. He has 24 takeaways to 145 career giveaways, but he balances this out with a positive corsi rating.
If Victor Mete was a bigger body he more than likely would have gone in the first or second-round. Instead, solely due to size, he dropped to the fourth-round and the 100th-overall selection to Montreal.
Draft Note:
The New York Rangers would go on to acquire 2016’s #21 Julien Gauthier, #27 Brett Howden, #37 Libor Hajek and #66 Adam Fox by trade in future seasons.
Other notable players available:
#133 Max Lajoie, #141 Tim Gettinger, #162 Jesper Bratt
2017 – Original Selection #7 Lias Andersson
‘If you can’t say anything nice…’
A lot has already been said on Lias Andersson and his tumultuous relationship with the New York Rangers. At the time, this pick was viewed to be a stretch, but his ‘desire to win‘ seemed promising… His behavior may be questionable as of late, but I’m going to remain optimistic that Lias Andersson will prove to be a strong pick.
This was the first draft that the New York Rangers selected within in the top-ten since Al Montoya in 2004. Hopefully, the results will be different this go around.
New Selection: Nick Suzuki
Nick Suzuki was drafted with the 13th-overall pick in 2017 by the Vegas Golden Knights and then shipped with Tomas Tatar and a second-round pick to Montreal for Max Pacioretty.
In his rookie debut this season, Suzuki put up 41 points in 71 contests. The Rangers are still in need of help down the middle and if Andersson and the the front office can’t find a ‘new normal’, Suzuki would do the job nicely.
Original Selection #21 Filip Chytil
Filip Chytil was a pleasant surprise to say the least. He won the Lars-Erik Sjöberg award in 2017 – which is an annual award that goes to the best rookie in training camp. He made the opening day roster and when he was assigned to Hartford, Chytil was the youngest player to play in the AHL since 1974. That’s pretty impressive resume to begin your career as a New York Ranger.
Now a full-time Blueshirt, Filip Chytil needs to take that next step and start to produce on a more consistent level. His skillset is a treat to watch, but consistency is key.
New Selection: Filip Chytil
Thus far he’s been a solid prospect. His PPG and plus-minus are lacking, but he’s shown that he has so much talent to bring to the game. Only Nico Hischier, Miro Heiskanen, and Nolan Patrick have played more games from the 2017 draft class.
Draft Note:
The New York Rangers traded Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta for Anthony DeAngelo and what would become the seventh-overall pick (Lias Andersson)
Other notable players available:
#8 Casey Mittelstadt, #12 Martin Necas, #20 Robert Thomas, #27 Morgan Frost #29 Henri Jokiharju, #139 Sebastian Aho
2018 – Original Selection #9 Vitali Kravtsov
Vitali Kravtsov seems raring to go. His spirits were initially deterred when he didn’t make the Rangers’ opening day lineup. After a stay in Hartford, Kravtsov returned to the KHL hoping to rejuvenate his game. The opposite appears to have happened.
On his European return, Kravtsov bounced between the KHL’s Chelyabinsk Traktor and then its affiliate team in the less publicized VHL. All signs indicate that Kravtsov was eager to accept the olive branch – training camp invitation – from New York Rangers.
Hopefully this means that Vitali Kravtsov is optimistic and opportunistic and a permanent fixture in the lineup next season. Even more, maybe Lias Andersson will see Kravtsov flourish and follow suit. Fingers crossed.
New Selection: Joel Farrabee*
*This is only if Kravtsov and the Rangers can’t permanently mend their relationship.
Joel Farrabee was quickly able to make an impact for the Philadelphia Flyers. Vitali Kravtsov has far more potential, but Joel Farabee is scrappy. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and has a great offensive game to go with it. Vitali Kravtsov is bigger and stronger, but Farrabee has been a pleasant surprise for the Philadelphia Flyers thus far.
Original Selection #22: K’Andre Miller
The New York Rangers traded up from 26th to 22nd in order to draft K’Andre Miller. Miller had recently transitioned from playing forward to defense and the Rangers felt that the U.S. National Team prospect would emerge into a refined two-way defenseman.
In a 2018 interview, Jeff Gorton said of K’Andre Miller “Special athlete, special kid… On the ice there is unlimited potential, he can really skate, is big, aggressive and just touching the surface here. He is a guy that, at the end of the day, he will do everything he can to be as good as he can and those are the players that we want.””
New Selection: K’Andre Miller
All indications point to Miller being a leader in years to come. He’s taking his development seriously and is continuing to mature. His response to the the racist remarks maliciously written in the Rangers Zoom meeting only proves that he’s capable of next-level leadership.
Original Selection: #28: Nils Lundkvist
Nils Lundkvist has remained in Sweden since he was drafted. There appears to be no rush in either the player or the program to bring Lundkvist state side. With the Rangers having such a deep defensive-prospect pool, it’s probably for the best. Lundkvist was a key contributor to the bronze-medal winning Swedish team at the 2020 WJC in the Czech Republic.
All indications suggest that Nils Lundkvist could be a top-four defenseman in years to come. However, there is a logjam with Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek, Jacob Trouba, Tony DeAngelo, Marc Staal, and K’Andre Miller all established or vying for spots. Not to mention, Matthew Robertson (drafted 49th overall in 2019), Zac Jones (drafted 68th overall in 2019) and Yegor Rykov (drafted 132nd in 2016) are all nipping at his heels.
New Selection: Nils Lundkvist
It’s really just too early to tell. He’s coming off a dominant season in the Swedish Hockey League and could be there another year or two. Hopefully the skills he’s exhibited overseas makes its way to Manhattan sooner rather than later.
Franchise Note:
On February 8, 2018, Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton penned and published the famous letter. They would go on to trade Nick Holden, Michael Grabner, Rick Nash, J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh prior to the trade deadline. The rebuild had officially begun.
Alain Vigneault was relieved of his coaching duties on April, 7, 2018. The New York Rangers would bring in David Quinn from Boston University in the summer.
Other notable players available:
#11 Oliver Wahlstrom, #12 Noah Dobson, #15 Grigori Denisenko, #17 Ty Smith, #29 Rasmus Sandin, #68 Tyler Madden
2019 – Original Selection #2 Kaapo Kakko
Kaapo Kakko has already demonstrated glimpses of sheer brilliance. His raw talent and skill is something that the Rangers haven’t seen on draft day since they selected Alexei Kovalev with the 15th-pick in 1991.
He’s improving playing off the puck and continues to find open-ice, but his minus-26 is the worst plus-minus on the team and tied for eighth worst in the entire league (tied with Jack Hughes and Dennis Cholowski).
When Kakko learns to skate north-south and not east-west, he’s going to be as lethal a player as they come.
New Selection: Jack Hughes
I’m kidding. Kaapo Kakko. You can’t go against the ‘Church of Kakko‘. That would be sacrilege!
Other notable players available:
#3 Kirby Dach, #4 Bowen Byram
What could have been
Over our three part series we have listed some options if you could redraft. Here’s what the starting could have looked like.
T.J. Oshie – Claude Giroux – Vladimir Tarasenko
Chris Kreider – Brayden Point – Jake Guentzel
Alexei Cherepanov – J.T. Miller – Kappo Kakko
Joel Farabee – Travis Zajac – Jordan Greenway
Filip Chytil
Brent Burns – John Carlson
Brady Skjei – Victor Mete
K’Andre Miller – Mike Green
Igor Shesterkin
Henrik Lundqvist
Looking ahead
Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda… But we are where we are, because we were where we were.
The roster could have looked entirely different today had the New York Rangers shifted their picks ever so slightly over the years, sure, but hopefully we’ve learned a few lessons along the way. It appears that the front office is past the days of dealing out first and second-round picks in order to fill a slot with a veteran past his prime. Hopefully, the next generation with Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin and the other talent youth get this team back to the pinnacle of hockey glory.
The future is bright my friends!
Dynamic duos. light. Must Read
Comment below your thoughts, your feelings and your hopes and dreams. Who would you have selected? Who would have reselected?