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Olympic medals for the best Rangers draft picks, round by round

By Steve Paulus

Rangers Brian Leetch gets the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP following game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals at Madison Square Garden June 14, 1994. The Rangers won the game 3-2 and the Stanley Cup.Rangers Win Stanley Cup
Rangers Brian Leetch gets the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP following game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals at Madison Square Garden June 14, 1994. The Rangers won the game 3-2 and the Stanley Cup.Rangers Win Stanley Cup /
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1990: Forward Tony Granato of the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Allsport /Allsport
1990: Forward Tony Granato of the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Allsport /Allsport /

Sixth round picks

Gold: Tony Granato (1982)

Silver: Reijo Ruotsalainen (1980)

Bronze: Jesper Fast (2010)

Honorable mentions:   Tom Laidlaw (1978), Kjell Samuelsson (1984), Darren Turcotte (1986), Mike York (1997), Marek Zidlicky (2001), Carl Hagelin (2007)

Future medalists?:  Tyler Wall (2016),  Morgan Barron (2017)

As bad as the results from the fifth round have been (except for Zubov), the six round has produced a cornucopia of solid NHL players.  Tony Granato takes the gold medal for his 248 goals and 492 career points.  He was another stellar Ranger traded away early in his career, accompanying second round bronze medalist Tomas Sandstrom to Los Angeles in the trade for Bernie Nicholls.

Reijo Ruotsalainen was a pint sized defenseman who could skate like the wind and he holds the franchise record for goals in one season (28) by a blueliner. He didn’t have a long career in the NHL, but when he played for the Rangers he was fun to watch.

Jesper Fast gets the bronze medal, though it’s worth noting that when he was drafted, his last name was Fasth. A favorite of Ranger fans and his teammates, he had a medal-worthy career in New  York though players like Samuelsson and Zidlicky have had much longer careers.

Before anyone gets upset, we will acknowledge that all of the honorable mentions could slide onto the bronze medal podium with little or no argument.  They all had long and distinguished careers in the NHL.  As we noted, the sixth round was a very good round for the New York Rangers and Morgan Barron or Tyler Wall could make it even better.

The seventh round is next and arguably the best late round pick in NHL history.

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