Three main takeaways from the 2020 NHL Entry Draft

1. The right pick

All of the headlines on Day One belonged to Alexis Lafreniere, and rightly so, but I was both intrigued and impressed by the Rangers’ second pick of Round One.

Opting to trade up from their No.22 spot to No.19, the Blueshirts drafted defenseman Braden Schneider from the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL.

It was a selection that sparked a lot of debate among fans on social media, with many holding out hope for forward Hendrix Lapierre.

I was one of those given that I absolutely fell in full bloom love with Lapierre while carrying out my Draft research, and I truly believe the Washington Capitals have an absolute stud on their hands who could morph into a high end two-way center in the NHL.

However, I really like the Schneider pick. And I mean I really like it.

I did a hell of a lot of research on Schneider given that I was convinced he would fall into the laps of the Vegas Golden Knights, who I also cover for FanSided.

That would have been one hell of a steal for the Golden Knights, so the Rangers did the right thing by trading up for Schneider.

While not a sexy pick by any stretch of the imagination, Schneider has all the tools, all the intangibles and the skill set needed to become a very, very good top-four defenseman in the NHL.

He’s a consummate professional and he’ll be an excellent fit in the room, while he’s a modern two-way defenseman who does boast some offensive upside as shown by putting up 42 points (7 G, 35 A) in 60 games for the Wheat Kings in 2019-20.

But, more impressive is Schneider’s play in his own zone with the right-shot a physical specimen who can skate incredibly well, overpower opponents with a crushing hit and he’ll improve the transition game with his ability to move the puck.

Overall, the Rangers have got themselves a stud in Braden Schneider and it made perfect sense to pick a high-end defenseman given that they had already taken an elite forward in Alexis Lafreniere with the No. 1 overall pick.

2. Rangers stay close to home

Of the nine total picks the New York Rangers made in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, six of them were Canadian.

You have to go all the way back to 2005 to find a year where the Rangers drafted so many kids from Canada, although they did draft eight back then with veteran defenseman Marc Staal their First Round pick (No. 12 overall).

If Braden Schneider, the No. 19 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, can carve out a similar career to his Canadian counterpart, then the Rangers will be happy.

The Rangers drafted three players from the Western Hockey League, including Schneider, while No.1 overall pick Alexis Lafreniere came from the QMJHL.

So, what can we read into the fact that the Rangers drafted so many Canadians this year?

It could be that they simply had more footage from the Canadian leagues given that the European leagues were severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

That could certainly have been part of it.

Or, another way of looking at it is the fact that drafting Canadians are normally a safe bet because they are accustomed to the North American way of playing and, as a result, there isn’t as much of a transition period.

We’ve seen how much of a risk it can be going the European route with Lias Andersson, who could go down as one of the biggest busts in the history of this franchise.

The seventh overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, Andersson never really worked it out in New York and that whole sorry saga was brought to an end on Wednesday after he was dealt to the LA Kings for the 60th overall pick in this year’s draft.

So, and while there are plenty of busts from Canada too, maybe the Rangers felt more comfortable staying closer to home and picking prospects they had more background on.

3. Bulking up

The New York Rangers have acknowledged that they need to get tougher both now and in the future.

If you’ve read some of my work then you know I’m old school when it comes to still needing big brutes on the roster, so that is a sentiment I’ve always agreed with.

And you can bet your life on the fact that I will have a piece or two up shortly on big-bodied veterans the Rangers should go after in Free Agency this week. You won’t change my mind on that particular stance.

But the Blueshirts took steps to injecting that toughness gene into their own DNA after bulking up at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

They took a defenseman No.19 overall in Braden Schneider who will be a physical force on the blueline, but it was in the later rounds where the Rangers really went big.

Huge, even.

It was abundantly clear that the front office had put a lot of emphasis on size inside the war room, and that was reflected in a lot of their nine picks.

None more so than in the final couple of rounds where the Rangers added two absolute giants to their farm system in goalie Hugo Ollas and center Matt Rempe, both standing at an impressive 6-foot-8.

Left winger Will Cuylle is also an imposing specimen at 6-foot-3 and 203 lbs, while he deserves brownie points for his love and knowledge of Star Wars.

But, in all seriousness, the New York Rangers entered the Draft knowing that they needed to get tougher and harder to play against, and they certainly accomplished that with a draft class that could go down as one of the biggest and most hard-nosed in recent memory.