Where will the Rangers’ second pick in the first round end up?

It’s mixed news so far for the New York Rangers second pick in the first round

The New York Rangers are out of the playoffs, but are still scoreboard watching to see how their second pick in the first round of the NHL Draft is doing.  They acquired Carolina’s pick in the Brady Skjei trade at the deadline.

Going into the playoffs, if the favorite won all of the first round series that pick would end up the 23rd in the first round.   Luckily, that’s not how it has been going..   The underdogs are ahead in three series and tied in one.  If it stays this way, the Rangers will end up with the 21st pick.  If Montreal can eke out a win over Philadelphia in their series, they would move up to the 20th pick overall.

Here’s how the series stand going into Sunday’s games with the underdogs in bold:

Montreal-Philadelphia tied 1-1
Vegas leads Chicago 3-0
Colorado leads Arizona 2-1
Calgary leads Dallas 2-1 (result doesn’t affect pick since both teams had a worse record than Carolina)
Vancouver leads St. Louis 2-1
Tampa leads Columbus 2-1
Islanders lead Washington 2-0
Boston leads Carolina 2-1

Of course, this is all predicated on the Bruins beating Carolina in the first round, an issue that was of some concern when Tukka Rask left the bubble to be with his family.   Luckily for the Rangers, the B’s have Jaroslav Halak as backup and he played well in his first game.  The loss of Rask may be offset by a leg injury suffered by Rangers nemesis Andrei Svechnikov.  He got tangled up with Zdeno Chara and went down awkwardly.

You hate to see anyone injured, but this is very bad news for the Hurricanes.  Good news for the Blueshirts.

What’s likely

The odds are that the Rangers will end up with the 21st or 22nd pick.  If they do, they will end up with a player taken in that range four out of five years.  In 2018  the Rangers took K’Andre Miller at 22nd. In 2017 it was Filip Chytil at 21st.  In 2016 the Hurricanes took future Ranger Julien Gauther 21st overall.

The good news is it is a deep draft this year and the Rangers should get a crack at a good player with that pick, though he will likely be a few years away from the NHL.

In the meantime, today you should root for Montreal who absolutely dismantled the Flyers in their last game.  If the Canucks can go up 3-0 over the Blues, it could be an insurmountable lead.  Same for the Islanders today who are looking very, very solid.   The Blackhawks take on Vegas, but look like they are finished, down three zip.

Stay tuned for an update on Svechnikov as the Hurricanes return to action against Boston on Monday night.