What happened on June 20 in the history of the New York Rangers
June 20 hasn’t been a day of distinction for the New York Rangers with no playoff games, no hirings and no firings. But on June 20, 2019 the Broadway Blueshirts were in the headlines as the management team headed to Vancouver for the NHL Entry Draft.
It was the most anticipated draft for the Rangers in franchise history as they held the second overall selection having won that pick in the NHL draft lottery. The common consensus was that the New Jersey Devils would take US born center Jack Hughes first overall with Finnish forward Kaapo Kakko going to the Rangers, but Kakko had dazzled at the World Championships and there was still a few who thought the Devils might go against the grain and take the big Finn over the smaller Hughes.
Considering that the last time the Blueshirts had a top two pick was 1966 when they selected Brad Park, the anticipation was justified. As for excitement, it was surpassed in 2020 when the Rangers won the first overall pick.
A Belarusian first
Belarus is not a hotbed of hockey talent with only 16 players from Belarus making it to the NHL. On this date in 1992, the Rangers drafted their first player from Belarus, Dmitri Starostenko. He was a right winger born in Minsk and he was playing for CSKA in Russia when he was drafted in the fifth round, 120th overall.
He was actually signed to a contract and played three seasons with the Binghamton Rangers, but he never made to the loaded Rangers teams of the mid 1990s. He eventually returned to the Russian pro leagues and played another eight years.
Ironically, the next year the Rangers drafted another player from Belarus, Sergei Olympijev, in the fourth round. He was a left winger who came to North America to play in the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers, but he never made it to the big leagues.
The team has never drafted another player from Belarus and no one from that country has ever played for the Rangers. There are two Belarusians in the NHL, Yegor Sharangovich of the Devils and Maxim Sushko of the Flyers. The best known Belarusian is probably defenseman Ruslan Salei who was a first round pick of the Anaheim Ducks and played 917 NHL games for four different teams.
Today’s birthdays
24 NHL players have been born on June 20 with one former Ranger in that group and a player who hopes to become a Blueshirt calling today his birthday.
Evan Vierling was born on this date in 2002 in Aurora, Ontario. He was drafted by the Rangers in 2020 in the fifth round, #127 overall. A left shot center, he was regarding as a late round steal for the Blueshirts. Vierling’s season fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic when the OHL season was cancelled and his Barrie Colts never took the ice. How that affects the development of the 19-year-old remains to be seen.
John Ogrodnick was born on this date in 1959 in Ottawa, Ontario. The left winger was a prolific scorer for the Detroit Red Wings, averaging 40 goals per seasons for six years from 1980 to 1986. He was a First Team All-Star after scoring 55 goals in 1984-85. He was traded to Quebec in 1987 and was then swapped to the Rangers prior to the 1987-88 season. He played five years with the Rangers, scoring 43 goals in 1989-90. He scored 126 goals and 254 points in 338 games as a Blueshirt before returning to Detroit as a free agent.