Worst Rangers First Round Pick since the 2004-05 Lockout

[effen]

No i don't and no it wasn't.

The whole exercise is pointless and boring if you just play the results.

 

[Bob Richards]

It's McIlrath.

Universally panned by the NHL universe and this fanbase. I try my best to separate process from results in draft picks/trades and the process/logic of that pick was f***ing whack lol.

 

[effen]

It's McIlrath.

Universally panned by the NHL universe and this fanbase.

I'd agree if not for the Kravitational force, the board lost its mind at the time and it was a huge overreaction to some recency to take an oaf who had a 2% chance of becoming Pronger.

 

[NYRFAN218]

The obvious answer is either Mac or Lias.

People forget Mac was still projected to go mid 1st in that draft and was ranked ahead of Tarasenko on a lot of outlets. It seems like they had their mind made up early that they were going to pick him.

The Lias pick seemed like a panic pick to me. Once Pettersson and Glass were off the board they didn't know who to pick so they went with the "safe" option. Stack him up against the rest of the 1st round and he is bottom 3, which is pretty awful.

A lot of people have the reaction with McIlrath of "if they wanted him so bad just trade down." But apparently Dallas was prepared to take him at 11 so he was pretty sought after.

Which is unbelievable considering this entire board at the time as well as anyone following prospects let out an actual WTF at the pick and couldn't believe the Rangers passed on Fowler as well as Tarasenko. Just an absolutely horrible pick in terms of results, thought process, how high the pick was, etc. Tbh, I don't think the other picks come close either considering those factors. Kakko/Laf were consensus and obvious picks, Kravtsov while he wound up being a bust was at least a swing on talent, Sanguinetti there was a need for that type of player and skill set and was picked around the time he should have. The only comparable would be Lias but like mentioned earlier, there were a bunch of different names that could have gone there and there was no consensus even if he was picked higher than he should have been.

 

[TGWL]

I struggle with McIlrath or Andersson. Rangers acknowledge they were in trouble and had to move on from players, it wasn't announcement rebuild time, but they were in motions to that. They took Andersson, a player they felt was ready now.

McIlrath initially felt bad because the entire fanbase seemed like it was a given between 2 players. An injury really hurt his development, although I'm not sure how much better he would have been. I think McIlrath would had been an acceptable pick and player had this been 5 or so years earlier.

 

[mike14]

Tough to pick.
Lias was the highest pick and gave us next to nothing (although at least we got a pick back), but there were more, better options on the table when we chose McI. Krav is probably the biggest waste in terms of talent, but it's harder to forecast how work ethic and attitude will pan out.

Lias and McI really seem to be the same pick, or at least mindset. For Dylan it was "we're taking a big defender" and for Lias "we're drafting the Stepan replacement". What was actually available didn't really seem to matter. Both players were also mainly predicted to go in the late teens/early 20s, and when you look at their body of work at AHL level, you can see that they would have been ok selections as mid-to-late rounds 1sts, especially if a few breaks had have gone the other way.

McI = most wasteful
Lias = most disappointing
Krav = most annoying

 

[Roo Returns]

Why do we torture ourselves with threads like this? The hope is that this new scouting department and emphasis on development will get it right starting with the Cullyes, Othmanns, Fortescues, and Perraults of the world.

 

[ElLeetch]

Big Mac and its not close. Everybody other than the Rangers Brass knew to take Tarasenko or Fowler.

That should have been the easiest pick the rangers made until the kakko and laf drafts. It was a no brainer type pick.

Unfortunately we had no brains

I was camping at the time. Listening to the draft on radio. When they picked McI, i screamed so loud they heard me two states over. i was so pissed it was such an obvious f*** up.

 

[Ruggs225]

I was camping at the time. Listening to the draft on radio. When they picked McI, i screamed so loud they heard me two states over. i was so pissed it was such an obvious f*** up.

I missed the draft it was mu friends wedding rehearsal dinner that night. I remember looking on my phone and going through and being super happy that tarasenko was still available. Like we weeee about to grt the steal of the draft. Then i saw mcilrath’s name and was like WTf NNNOoooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[SA16]

McIlrath is a two time Calder Cup winner and captained one of the teams to the championship. Seems pretty successful if you ask me.

 

[NYR Viper]

It's Andersson for me. People forget Andersson was #7 overall. McIlrath was #10. Those 3 spots are pretty large.

 

[bogans]

I missed the draft it was mu friends wedding rehearsal dinner that night. I remember looking on my phone and going through and being super happy that tarasenko was still available. Like we weeee about to grt the steal of the draft. Then i saw mcilrath’s name and was like WTf NNNOoooooooooooooooooo!!!

I think it was clear that Tarasenko was the pick, but they had a moment of being scared of Russian kids after Cherepanov (RIP). I think it was literally only that draft they passed on what was clearly the best pick for them because of the Russian factor. But I definitely chalk up the McIlrath pick to being frightened. What could've been if Cherepanov had not passed away and they had both him and Tarasenko in the farm. It would been a cup or multiple cups with Lundqvist in net for sure.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Sang...its kinda not even close considering who else we could have gotten.

I think the McIlrath pick wouldn't have been near as bad without that injury and i see what the team was trying to do, we had DelZotto who looked like a Fowler type his first year and we needed some toughness but the league was pivoting from big hulking dmen to skating puck moving dmen at the time and the team never pivoted with the league.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

McIlrath because there's really no justification for taking a limited defenseman top 10. Lias wasn't good either but all of the top picks were drafted. Kravtsov was an upside guy. Sanguinetti was a good pick at the time it was made. Laf and Kakko we still don't know what they'll be and they were the obvious picks.

 

[Machinehead]

Interestingly, none of McIlrath, Andersson, or Kravtsov were taken in good drafts.

The Rangers got one of the better players taken after Andersson (Chytil) and definitely the best player taken after Kravtsov (Miller).

You have to go with McIlrath. I feel for the guy and he's ended up having a great AHL career. To me, it comes down to the reasoning behind the pick.

Knowing the Rangers, we almost certainly took McIlrath based on some fictional scenario involving another team/player that never happened, just like in the mid 90's when we blew up a Cup winner to prepare for a series with Philadelphia that happened once and we lost anyway.

 

[Peltz]

Kravstov. The drama was just so annoying.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

~in Gordie we trust~

 

[Riche16]

Sanguinetti. Giroux was right there.

This is true but McIlrath was way off the board & Tarasenko was right there.

Both were horrible, I'll grant you that tho

The fact that this is a thread

AND

It's a debatable choice says a lot about our "smartest men in room" scouting staff.

 

[pld459666]

Interested to hear everyone's takes of our worst first round pick since the lockout....I've included six in the poll to work with.

Use whatever measuring stick you want, but just add an explanation.

It's summertime....

Need to be able to select multiple players.

 

[pld459666]

I chose McIlrath because of the player he was and the opportunity cost of losing out on some very good players that are still playing and producing today 13 year later.

 

[Riche16]

I was camping at the time. Listening to the draft on radio. When they picked McI, i screamed so loud they heard me two states over. i was so pissed it was such an obvious f*** up.

Was working The Travelers PGA TOUR event... about to go into a restaurant with coworkers & lost my shit listening on radio. I was livid & screamed in my car.

The whole dinner, people were saying "Let it go"

 

[LoveGoons]

Kravy!!!

 

[Mandar]

Need to be able to select multiple players.

The question was who was the worst one (in your opinion). It didn’t ask for the worst “ones”

 

[pld459666]

The question was who was the worst one (in your opinion). It didn’t ask for the worst “ones”

i know what the question was, but there are multiple RIGHT answers

 

[Kupo]

Who are the potatoes that voted Kakko and Laf over Mcallrath?

Edit: nvm.