New York Rangers sign a free agent and 3 prospects

The focus on the New York Rangers may be all about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but behind the scenes, the team is making moves for the future.  They recently signed four players including three prospects and a top Swedish Hockey League free agent.

Gustav Rydahl signed

This one had been rumored for a while and is a true free agent signing. Rydahl is a center who played for Färjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League this season.  He finished the regular season with 15 goals and 15 assists, third in goals on the team and is a veteran, turning 28 in September.

Färjestad BK won the SHL championship just  a week ago and with that under his belt, it appears that Rydahl is ready to test North American hockey.  He had an excellent playoffs with six goals and 12 points in 19 games.

One statistic worth noting was his 53 penalty minutes in the regular season, the 11th most in the SHL.  He followed that up with 23 penalty minutes in the playoffs.

Here is a scouting report from Eliteprospects.com’s David Enborn: “Rydahl is a physical power forward who plays with a lot of grit. Loves to agitate opponents and takes advantage when players cannot handle their temper. Owns a decent shot, useful in boxplay and a tremendous team player.”

There’s no stats to tell us whether he is any good on the faceoff dots, but some message boards indicated that he is not.

Rydahl is 6’3″, 201 pounds and is a left shot center.  He was a former teammate of Nils Lundkvist as they both played for Luleå HF in 2017-18.  He signed a one-year deal for $750k.

This is a no risk signing that could pay off for the Blueshirts or he could go the way of Michael Lindqvist, Ville Meskanen and Malte Stromwall, also undrafted free agents from Europe who never made it to Broadway.

Top WHL Prospects Ryder Korczak signed

Ryder Korczak signed his Entry Level Contract, a three year deal with an AAV of $925k.  He  was a third round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft (75th overall).   He’s a 19-year-old center who turns 20 in September.   He’s smaller at 5’11”, 172 pounds, but is coming off an excellent second season in the WHL.

He had 25 goals and 79 points in 68 games for the Moose Jaw Warriors and followed that up with three goals and 13 points in 10 playoff games. Those 54 assists in the regular season was good for 10th overall in the WHL.

Ranger fans should take notice of his 56.4% faceoff winning percentage.

Korczak was named WHL Player of the Week last week (May 15) for leading all WHL players in scoring (1 goal, six assists) for the week. He also won 53 of 73 faceoffs in the week, a sparkling 73% win rate.   Moose Jaw was eliminated from the WHL playoffs on Friday.

The Rangers could return Korczak to the WHL next season or as a 20-year-old, he could begin his pro career in Hartford.

Big Swedish center Adam Edström signed

The description of Adam Edström is that he is big. He’s 6’4″, 208 pounds and reports out of Sweden are that he uses that size.  He has played three full seasons for Rögle BK in the Swedish Hockey League and he has never been a big scorer, topping out with seven goals and 10 points.

Rögle was the top team in the regular season and were eliminated in the Semifinals by Färjestad, but the good news is that he has raised his level of play in the SHL playoffs the last two years.

In 24 playoff games the last two seasons he had six goals and 10 points in 24 games compared to 10 goals and 19 points in 86 regular season games.

Edström turns 22 in October and will get a look in training camp.  He could return to Sweden or get his start in North America in Hartford.   The Rangers didn’t have to get him under contract as they had another year before he was eligible to become a free agent.  He signed for three years at an AAV of $950k.

No immediate answers

As previously reported, the Rangers also recently signed goalie Olof Lindbom to his Entry Level Contract so that means four new faces in the fold for next season.  None of them should be expected to be impact players immediately and we may see only Rydahl in Hartford next season.  Then again, they could all make the move across the Atlantic.

Add Lindbom, Rydahl and Edström to a list of European prospects under contract including Vitali Kravtsov, Nils Lundkvist, Karl Henriksson and Lauri Pajuniemi.  It would be nice if their European draft picks started bearing fruit.  True, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil and Igor Shesterkin have made it as NHL regulars, but you have to go back to Pavel Buchnevich in 2016 to find a European skater picked after the first round who has made it to the Rangers.