New York Rangers fans are pretty happy with the draft, mostly because of Alexis Lafrenière
Believe it or not, it’s been just one week since the NHL Entry Draft. In the last week we’ve seen the New York Rangers draft Alexis Lafrenière and eight other prospects, Henrik Lundqvist and Jesper Fast depart via free agency, four Restricted Free Agents file for arbitration and the team sign a boatload of free agents, most of whom we have never heard of.
In case you forgot, here are the nine players drafted by the Blueshirts last week:
- First 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) – Oliver Tärnström, C – AIK
- Fourth round – # 103 overall – Dylan Garand, G – Kamloops, WHL
- Fifth round – #127 – Evan Vierling, C – Barrie, OHL
- Fifth round – # 134 overall – Brett Berard, LW, Providence
- Sixth round – # 165th overall – Matt Rempe, C – Seattle WHL
- Seventh round – #197th overall (from Nashville) – Hugo Ollas, G – Linkoping J20 , Sweden
The grades
For most analysts, the Rangers automatically won this draft because they had the top pick and that was reflected in their comments. Some did look at the later picks and the reactions were mostly mixed.
First, Blue Line Station’s Will Wright delivered an in depth look at the draft. Click here to see it. The good news is the final grade from Will was a solid B+. He was most enthused by Lafrenière, but also singled out the mid-draft picks of Dylan Garand, Evan Vierling and Brett Berard.
He was less thrilled with the selection of Will Cuylle in the second round and Matt Rempe in the sixth round. It will take years before we know how well the Rangers fared. In the meantime, here are some of the grades.
ESPN – Grade A
Chris Peters of ESPN was very happy with the Rangers draft, bestowing an “A” grade on their nine picks. Beside Lafrenière, he called Braden Schneider the best available defenseman at the 19th pick, saying “His reads in the defensive zone are outstanding.”
Peters was mixed on Will Cuylle saying he “needs some work,” but he noted that he had goalie Dyland Garand ranked higher. He was very happy about the Rangers #134 overall pick Brett Berard who Peters had ranks 68th overall.
The Athletic (subscription required) – Grade A+
Corey Pronman gave the Rangers the best grade, an A+. While he conceded that their top pick was a “consensus special talent,” he also cited Braden Schneider as a “potential top-four defensman” and Will Cuylle as a “potential bottom-six forward.” He also singled out goalie Garand and forward Evan Vierling. His excellent grade was mostly due to the quality of the Blueshirts’ later round picks as he called the Rangers’ draft “impressive.”
Elite Prospects Rinkside (subscription required) – Grade CJ.D. Burke of Eliteprospect.com was much less charitable to the Rangers, giving them a C grade for their entire draft. While he had no issues with the Lafrenière pick, his take was that the Rangers went south from there, calling their picks “real strange.”
His principal issue was the selection of Braden Schneider and he said what many Ranger fans were thinking when the pick was made. Why pick a righthanded defenseman? He cited the many outstanding prospects at center who were still available, including Hendrix Lapierre.
He also had issues with the selection of Will Cuyle who Elite Prospects had given a bad review. he had this to say about the forward: ” Cuylle is one of the best one-touch finishers in the draft, but every other part of his game is lacking.”
He was more positive about Dylan Garand, Evan Vierling, and Brett Berard calling them ” great gets where the Rangers got them. The value on each of those prospects was just fantastic.” He wasn’t very happy with the selecitn of Matthew Rempe.”
The Hockey Writers – Grade B+
Josh Bell of The Hockey Writers website had the same reaction as Burke when it came to some of the Rangers picks. His biggest issue is with Braden Schneider who he felt was a second round pick. He is also not a Cuylle fan saying that he “is a good player, maybe in the third or fourth round though, I don’t think he’s a great option in the second – even with the Star Wars fandom.”
Bell was fine with the Tärnström, Vierling and Berard picks, not so much with the Garand, Rempe or Ollas selections. His conclusion was that “Obviously, Lafrenière gives this class a massive boost, but I’m a little underwhelmed by the rest.” in explaining how he couldn’t justify an A grade.
Puck Prose – Grade A
Dave Stevenson of FanSided’s Puck Prose gave the New York Rangers a solid A grade. He obviously name Lafrenière his favorite pick, but also called “Evan Vierling is a fascinating prospect who has enough skill to stick in the NHL, maybe even as a top-six forward. He’s got a lot of things to work on, but he’s already overcome so much. I sure as heck wouldn’t bet against the kid.”
His least favorite pick was again, Will Cuylle. His take was that Cuylle needs more development than you expect from a second round pick. to draft in the second round.
In giving the A grade, Stevenson said that the “Rangers easily had a top 5 draft class. Yes, it was boosted by Lafreniere, but they made some other very good selections too.”
Winners and losers
That was it for letter grades. Other sites broke the draft down into winners and losers and you can guess which side of the ledger the Rangers landed on, mostly due to Lafrenière.
Sportsnet
Ryan Dixon of Sportnet proclaimed the Rangers the biggest winners of the draft, along with Ottawa Senators. Dixon pointed out that despite the fact that the Blueshirts had a better points percentage than seven other teams over the last two years, the Rangers have picked second and first overall in the last two drafts. As Dixon put it…”thanks to some serious lottery luck….start spreading the news.”
NBC Sports Pro Hockey Talk
Adam Gretz of NBC called the Rangers a “Big winner and (small) loser.” He pointed out that it really doesn’t matter what any of the other Rangers picks do, if Lafrenière is as good as they say. He’s got a point, everyone considers the Oilers 2015 draft a success because they got Connor McDavid.
The “small loser” rating is due to the Rangers having to “sell low” on Lias Andersson when they swapped him to Los Angeles for the 60th overall pick, not a great return for a seventh overall pick just three years ago.
The Sporting News
Jackie Spiegel of The Sporting News had a different take, not calling the Rangers winners, but instead saying that the true winners are New York Ranger fans. It was mostly due to the fact that less than a week after having to say good-bye to Henrik Lundqvist. Spiegel put it this way.. “He (Lundqvist) exits stage left, and Lafreniere enters stage right.”
There’s no doubt that the Rangers were winners in this draft and this will be known as the Lafrenière draft forever in Rangers’ lore. If even more one more player from the draft class is able to make an impact as a New York Ranger, this could be the best draft ever. Think about it. When was the last time the Rangers drafted two players in the same year who became impact players in New York?
It could be 2008 when Derek Stepan and Michael Del Zotto both made it to the Garden. Before that it was 2004 with Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. It’s been a long time.