The New York Rangers concluded their 2021 NHL Entry Draft with picks in the fifth and seventh round. Keeping the last two picks meant that they drafted a total of eight prospects. Any pick as low as the fifth round has to be considered a coin toss.
In the ten draft from 2008 to 2017, they have picked 26 players in the fifth round or later. Six of them have made it to the NHL for a total of 568 games. Of course, 468 of those games were played by sixth round pick Jesper Fast. The team still has high hopes for Morgan Barron, picked in the sixth round selection in 2017.
A Czech winger
With their 144th pick the Rangers went with their second European skater, Czech right winger Jaroslav Chmelar. He’s big at 6’4″, 189 pounds and he played this season for Jokerit’s U18 team in Finland. He was a big scorer in the Czech Republic in junior hockey and moved to Finland where he has played the last three years. In 15 games for Jokerit’s U18 team he scored five goals and totaled 13 points.
He played for the Czech U18 team at this year’s U18 tournament with a goal and an assist in five games.
Finally, a defenseman
With their final pick, 208th overall, the Rangers selected defenseman Hank Kempf. He played this season for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and will be headed to Cornell University in he fall. Kempf is older, having turned 19 in April and the left shot defenseman is 6’2″ and 190 pounds.
The Illinois native looks to be typecast as a stay-at-home defenseman and Eliteprospects.com’s assessment was that he has potential that could be unlocked at Cornell, but he appears to be at best a third pair blueliner.
At 208th overall, any pick is a roll of the dice and the Rangers will give him a few years to figure it out.