New York Rangers: An off the board third round pick in Jayden Grubbe

The NHL Entry Draft resumed on Saturday morning with rounds two through seven.  The New York Rangers had no second round pick and two picks in the third round.  Despite opportunities to trade up, the Rangers stood pat and waited until the first pick in the third round to make their first choice of the day.

The Rangers went out and picked center Jayden Grubbe, a pick that would have to called off-the-board.  Grubbe had his 2020-21 season cut short by a knee injury and that resulted in him dropping in the rankings.   He’s big at 6’2″, 200 pounds and turned 18 in January.  He had to undergo surgery on his ACL in March and is expected to be ready to go when the WHL resumes play in the fall.

Eliteprospects.com called him “one of the draft’s biggest wildcards” as they had him ranked 94th overall.  They position him as more of a defensive center with leadership skills.  He was the captain of the Red Deer Rebels.

The challenge for Grubbe is he has two years in junior hockey, but it’s really only one year as he played only five games before getting injured.  There was a lot of anticipation for Grubbe this season based on his first year in Red Deer, but the injury waylaid any expectations.

Corey Pronman of The Athletic (subscription required) had him ranked 119th overall and called him a “big center with skill.”

FC Hockey ranked Grubbe 149th overall primarily based on his play in his rookie WHL season.

Worth noting is that he was named captain at age 18, pretty unusual for a  second year WHL player.  The Rangers have to have done their due diligence on this pick as they passed on some other, more highly rated centers.

The team got this pick when they traded Jimmy Vesey to Buffalo.

The Rangers still have the 80th overall pick in the third round along with  three picks in the fourth round and one each in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.