Recapping the draft and Jeff Gorton’s perspective

By drafting Alexis Lafrenière the New York Rangers were the big winners at the NHL Draft

The New York Rangers surprised no one by taking Alexis Lafrenière first overall.  For the first time in their modern draft history they had the first overall pick and it was a year when there was a consensus candidate who was head and shoulders above the competition. He is NHL ready and should be an impact player in his first year.

The Blueshirts ended up drafting nine players and making three trades to move up to get players they really wanted. Aside from Lafrenière, the other picks will need time to mature and it will be years before we will be able to truly assess the success of this draft.

Here are the nine picks.

1. First round – #1 overall – Alexis Lafrenière, LW – Rimouski, QMJHL
2. First round – # 19 overall -Braden Schneider, D – Brandon, WHL
3. Second round – #60 overall (from Los Angeles) – Will Cuylle, LW – Windsor, OHL
4. Third round – #92 overall (from Dallas) – Oliver Tarnstrom, C – AIK
5. Fourth round – # 103 overall – Dylan Garand, G – Kamloops, WHL
6. Fifth round – #127 – Evan Vierling, C – Barrie, OHL
7. Fifth round – # 134 overall – Brett Berard, LW, Providence
8. Sixth round – # 165th overall – Matt Rempe, C – Seattle WHL
9. Seventh round – #197th overall (from Nashville) – Hugo Ollas, G – Linkoping J20 , Sweden

The final totals?    Three centers, three left wingers, two goalies  and one defenseman.    The shortest pick was Brett Berard at 5’9″.  The tallest picks were twin giants Matt Rempe and Hugo Ollas at 6’8″ . Six Canadians, two Swedes and one American.  The last time they drafted as many Canadian kids was in 2005 when they picked eight.

We’ll have more on each of these picks in the coming days.  There is some disagreement among hockey observers about how well the Rangers did after picking Lafrenière and we will get into that.

The headline on this draft is that the Rangers lived up to their promise to become tougher to play against as each of their picks was cited for that very attribute.  For the first time in years, the Rangers selections were mostly from Canada with only two picks from Sweden and one from the United States.

Gorton on the draft

Jeff Gorton spoke about the draft and all of the transactions.  There were 27 trades made over the two days.  According to Gorton, “It was pretty easy to make a trade, there was a lot of jockeying up and down for position, in each round…people trading up for a player they like in that spot…we got two picks. It wasn’t that difficuilt.

He summed up the draft saying, “I think as we move forward, we addressed a lot of needs…some emphasis on size, a lot of Canadians, lately it’s worked out that we had a lot of Europeans so it was one of those years that it worked out with players from North America.”

No doubt about the Lafrenière  pick

Tuesday night, Gorton had revealed that the Lafrenière selection was never really in doubt. “When the ball came out of the machine we knew he was going to be our guy.  It was pretty clear cut how we felt about him.  We didn’t speak to him prior to the lottery, because it’s a lottery.  We didn’t think we had a chance.  Then, when you win the lottery you start digging a little more into it.  He passed with flying colors on all things. There wasn’t a lot of debate about our number one player.”

He did say that he had some conversations about dealing the top pick, but they weren’t serious. “I would say most of the time, people called me, they had a mask on and it wasn’t for Covid.  No, we were not close to doing anything.”

He tried to downplay expectations when asked when to expect Lafrenière to contribute. Gorton said  “Next season,  I hope so.  We never give out a job right now, but we would expect that to happen.  We’re pretty excited to get him and we’ll go from there.”

This is the kind of draft that will take years to assess.  Lafrenière  is the only player pretty much guaranteed to make the varsity next season.  Braden Schneider is close, but as a blueliner he is  probably not ready yet. For most of the picks, it will take years for them to develop, especially with the uncertainties of the pandemic affecting hockey.

The one negative was regarding Lias Andersson.  While some would say that the Rangers did well getting a second round pick in exchange for him, it is still a meager return for a player drafted seventh overall just three years ago.  If Will Cuylle turns into a bonafide NHL player, the Lias Andersson story will be come a footnote, but that could take a few years.

The next big date for the Rangers is Friday at noon when the free agency window opens.  All buyouts must be executed by Thursday and that could affect the UFA marketplace.   The Rangers are still in need of help on defense and potentially at center.  The good thing is that with the addition of their top pick, the Rangers are already a better team than the squad that lost to Carolina.

John Davidson‘s message to fans

John Davidson was positively giddy on Tuesday night.  He summed it up best in a message to Ranger fans.  “We’re excited, we’re really excited.  It’s not very often in one’s lifetime that you win the lottery and go number one overall. That’s magical and fortunate.  When we start looking at the players that we have…we’ve got the Panarins, Zibanejads, Fox, Kreider and it goes on and on, Shesterkin, Georgiev…we’re in pretty good shape right now, but we keep trying to get better and better.  We have to go through the experience of playing games, the experience of development. We’re right in the middle of the thick of things.”

Davidson continued, “When you look at our club where we are, we’ve got a lot of very strong assets.  This is fun, for us it’s a blast.  Come and watch us grow.  This is fun. You’re gonna see these young players develop and become great players right before your eyes.”

Let’s hope that Davidson is right.  After one year on the job, he’s been pretty much on target.