If the right deal emerges, why shouldn’t the New York Rangers trade the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft?
Most hockey pundits agree that Alexis Lafrenière’s name will be called first at the NHL Entry Draft in October. Whether it’s the New York Rangers or another club doing the talking, however, remains to be seen.
It’s likely the Rangers will take the 6-foot-1, 192-pound winger, whose 112 points last season led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. But the notion that they positively must not trade the top pick might not be what’s best for them.
“The Rangers haven’t had the first overall pick since 1965!”
“Lafrenière is great playmaker — he led his junior league in points and assists (77); and he has the size (6-foot-1, 192 pounds) to dominate games.”
“Living legend Scotty Bowman said that Lafrenière is ‘much better than anybody else. There’s nobody close to him.'”
True, but none of that guarantees Lafrenière, the NHL player, will meet the lofty expectations of the game’s pundits.
I’m not suggesting I know better than a nine-time Stanley Cup-winning coach or a beat writer who has covered the NHL for decades. Not even close. But I’m also not convinced the Rangers shouldn’t do more than the obligatory and merely listen to offers.
Mind you, it would take an absolute haul to convince me the Rangers would be better off trading away the number one choice. But the idea that it shouldn’t (or definitely won’t) happen doesn’t make sense.
For example, if the rumors were true and the Ottawa Senators indeed would consider dealing 20-year-old wing Brady Tkachuk and the third and fifth picks in this draft for the No. 1 selection, why would the Rangers think twice about pulling the trigger?
The idea of Ottawa giving up so much while in the midst of its own rebuild is silly, of course, but it was floated loud enough to grab the attention of Senators’ owner Eugene Melnyk, who told the Ottawa Citizen: “The idea of trading our third and fifth picks for the No. 1 pick is nonsensical.”
Of course, it is.
Even more illogical would be throwing in the 6’3″, 196 pound Tkachuk, who has 43 goals, 89 points, and 181 penalty minutes in 142 NHL games since being taken fourth overall in 2018 out of Boston University. But that doesn’t mean the eccentric Melnyk won’t change his mind (or have it changed by confidants) between now and October.