Eighth round – A Czechmate
Not much to show for the eighth round, but one player stood out after only two season.
Win: Petr Prucha (#240-2002) – Prucha burst on the scene as a member of the Czech-laden Rangers in 2005-06. Under Jaromir Jagr’s tutelage, Prucha scored 30 goals in his rookie season and 22 goals as a sophomore. He flamed out after that, unable to his double digits in goals and was dealt to Phoenix in 2009 for Derek Morris. Still, two good seasons for an eighth round pick has to be seen as a win.
Other notables: Ryan Hollweg (#238-2001), Corey Hirsch (#169-1991)
Ninth round – Traded away
Two quality NHL players drafted, two quality NHL players who didn’t get to strut their stuff in new York. Considering the crapshoot at this stage of the draft, it’s truly a shame.
Ones that got away: Kelly Miller (#183-1982) – Miller falls into the “ones who got away category” since he played less than two full seasons in New York. Traded to Washington for Bobby Carpenter in one of GM Phil Esposito’s worst deals, he played 14 more years with the Capitals as a star defensive forward, a Selke Award finaliist in 1992.
Eric Boulton (#234-1994) was never signed by the Rangers, but the left wing ended up playing parts of 15 seasons in the NHL for four teams. A tough physical forward, he topped the 100 PIM mark six times.
10th round – Another Miller traded
Another missed opportunity with another Miller.
Win: Kevin Miller (#202-1984) – There must be something about the Miller brothers. Like his sibling, Kelly, he was traded away from New York after three seasons and went on to play parts of ten more years in the NHL. His 620 games played is 605 more than any other Ranger 10th round pick has played.
11th round – Last in the draft
One solid NHL goalie and the last pick in the draft turns into a gem…but not for the Rangers.
Win: Steve Weeks (#176-1978) – Weeks played three seasons in New York when the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs annually by the Islanders. His career numbers aren’t great, but they came during the highest scoring period in NHL history.
One that got away: Kim Johnsson (#286-1994) was the last overall pick in the 1994 draft and had a long and successful career, not in New York. There’s probably nothing more depressing than unearthing a quality NHL player in a late round and then trading him away. That’s the story of Kim Johnsson. Like Kelly Miller, he did play two seasons with the Rangers.
12th round – Sarge
It was a year for the Russians as the Rangers took both Sergei Zubov and Sergei Nemchinov in the 1990 draft. Only Zubov and Vyacheslav Kozlov ended up playing more games than the Rangers’ 12th rounder.
Win: Sergei Nemchinov (#244-1990) – Sarge was one of four Russians who were the first to get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. He played 11 seasons in the NHL including 418 games with the Rangers.
Place: Rudy Poeschek (#238-1985) – Poeschek was tough as nails and rode that reputation to a 12 year NHL career, finishing with 817 penalty minutes in 364 games. He played 68 games in New York with 199 PIM in 1988-89. He wasn’t known for his scoring touch, totaling only two assists with the Rangers and six goals in his NHL career.
21st round – The latest round pick
In the days of the rival WHA, there was no guarantee that a player would end up in the NHL if he was drafted.
One that got away: Warren Miller ( #241-1974) – Miller was drafted in the 21st round, the second latest Ranger pick to make it to the NHL and the latest pick to play for the team. He wasn’t signed by New York and went the route of the WHA playing with the Calgary Cowboys. In an interesting twist, when the two leagues merged, the Rangers were able to reclaim Miller since they held his NHL rights. He ended up playing 55 games for the Blueshirts, meaning it took five years for him to make it to Broadway.
The top five late picks
Is your head spinning from all of these memories? Here’s our list of the top five players drafted by the Rangers in the third round or later. Some didn’t play long in New York, but they are players we think of as Rangers, no matter how short their tenure.
- Henrik Lundqvist (#205-2000)
- Sergei Zubov (#85-1990)
- Tony Amonte (#68-1988)
- John Vanbiesbrouck (#72-1981)
- Ryan Callahan (#127-2004)
Do you agree? Feel free to make your picks below. And let’s join all Ranger fans in hoping that those eight picks in 2020 will turn into eight viable NHL players. The odds are against it, but we can always hope.