2008 NHL Draft Preview: New York Rangers

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time when all of the rinks have closed for the summer, and the NHL Entry Draft and free agency loom. With the possible losses of Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, Rozsival, and Avery, it is shaping up to be a very interesting offseason for the New York Rangers.

However, the draft comes before the time when GM Glen Sather has to worry about losing key players from the team. There are immediate needs for the Rangers, and there are long term needs that the team needs to be successful in the future.

Right now, it is obvious that they need a mean, crease-clearing defenseman who will make opponents think twice about running Henrik Lundqvist. A guy like this can be found in free agency, but I’ll address this at a later date. I will admit that this year’s free agent selection is one of the most shallow in recent memory. A sniper for Gomez to replace the potential departures of Shanahan and Straka would be nice going into next season, but again, I’ll address this in my offseason preview to be written after the NHL draft.

Now for long term needs, the Rangers will need a suitor for Jaromir Jagr. Alexei Cherepanov (last year’s 1st round pick), may or may not be that guy. Besides Cherepanov, Anisimov, Hillier, and Korpikoski, the Rangers prospect depth at top 6 potential forwards is very shallow. Although this year’s draft is reputably deep at defense, the Rangers need forward prospects. Good defense prospects can be found in the middle rounds, so I believe that the Rangers should draft offense early, then focus on defense in the later rounds. Keep your eyes on players like Mattias Tedenby, Jared Staal, Zac Dalpe, Tyler Ennis, and Kyle Beach as potential early round targets for the Rangers in the 1st round that I would like to see drafted.

However, as always, the Rangers organization has the potential to do something that no one ever thought possible (see Cherepanov falling into the Rangers’ laps at 17th overall last year). What I wrote above is what I want to see happen. What I think will actually happen is that the Rangers will go with the best player available when it’s Sather’s turn to approach the podium. Look for any of the following as potential Ranger picks: Colten Teubert, Michael Del Zotto, Josh Bailey, Kirill Petrov, and John Carlson. As for John Carlson, even though I advocate for a forward to be taken with the 1st rounder, I’d be ecstatic if he lasted until the Rangers’ pick at 20. He has almost the complete package, as I believe to see a bit of a poor man’s Scott Stevens in him, with more offensive potential. Another bonus to drafting Carlson: Sather doesn’t allow Devils GM Lou Lamoriello to draft the homegrown kid from Colonia, New Jersey that could very well turn out to be the second coming of Scott Stevens. Same goes for Michael Del Zotto, whom I believe draws comparisons to Brian Campbell.

Depending on who the Rangers pick in the first round, I believe that they should pick a player from another position in the second round. There are a lot of players in the second round that could turn out to be very special players. Some names that I wouldn’t mind seeing drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round are Aaron Ness (probably won’t last to 50 overall though), Danick Paquette, Matt Calvert, James Livingston, Erik Karlsson, David Toews, and David Carle.

In summary, my want list for the New York Rangers in the first couple of rounds, ranked in order:

1st Round:
Tedenby
Carlson
Dalpe
Ennis
Teubert

2nd Round:
Ness
Staal
Paquette
Karlsson
Livingston


I figured that I will try something and do something special for my first blog post in over a month. If you leave a comment or e-mail me with some questions regarding the draft for the Rangers, I will post them in a separate blog post and write detailed answers for each question. Regardless, I have something special planned that I am thinking of posting in the near future, so be sure to keep an eye out for that!