The Lias Andersson experience is over, traded for 2nd round pick

The drafting of Lias Andersson will go down as one of the bigger busts in New York Rangers history

Lias Andersson’s future with the New York Rangers is over.  The Blueshirts traded him to the Los Angeles Kings for the 60th overall pick in the second round of the draft.  With the pick, the Rangers took left winger William Cuylle who scored 22 goals for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL.

The saga of Andersson is well known to anyone who follows the Rangers and it isn’t worth recapping except to say that he never lived up to his billing as the seventh overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.   His final numbers?  66 games, three goals, six assists, nine points, 33 penalty minutes and an overall plus/minus of -20.  Say goodbye.

Who is Will Cuylle?

The Rangers obviously wanted Cuylle, ranked 34th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.  Here is their assessment. “Cuylle is fearless throwing his body around, especially on the forecheck, and the forward is skilled enough to do it without spending too much time in the penalty box.”  According to NHL.com, Cuylle has some decent role models. “Cuylle said he uses physical power forwards like Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals, Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars and Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames as role models.”

According to Eliteprospects.com he is a natural scorer:  “Cuylle is one of the most naturally gifted one-touch scorers in this year’s draft. Put the puck on his stick, and he’ll do the rest. Cuylle is a technically gifted shooter. He’s got so much upper-body strength on that 6-foot-2, 201-pound frame of his, and he puts it to good use generating quick-release wrist shots explode off his stick’s blade. ”

He is listed as 6’3″, 203 pounds and turns 19 in February.

Chris Peters of ESPN ranked him 61st overall.  TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him at #45 and Craig Button of TSN  had him at #94.

With Cuylle, it appears that the Rangers are honing in on a certain type of player, the kind of player who is hard to play against.  It is also interesting to note that the team appears to be trending towards picking Canadian kids after years of selecting European skaters.

They have quite a few more picks to go.

• 1st round – #1 overall – Alexis Lafrenière, LW – Rimouski, QMJHL
• First round – # 19 overall -Braden Schneider, D – Brandon, WHL
• Second round – #60 overall (from Los Angeles) – Will Cuylle, LW – Windsor, OHL
• Third round – #92 overall (from Dallas)
• Fourth round – # 103 overall
• Fifth round – # 134 overall
• Sixth round – # 165th overall
• Seventh round – # 196th overall
• Seventh round – #197th overall (from Nashville)
• Seventh round – #206th overall (from Vancouver)