With how our 2018 draft is looking, I am feeling so much more comfortable for our future. I didn't feel that way on draft night, or after the draft in general. As others have put it, the powers that be in the NYR office thought they were smarter than many other teams. While they have made their share of mistakes, they also have had their share of successes.
When we were up at #9 and Wahlstrom & Dobson were still on the board, I was ecstatic. I thought to myself "well, even if we don't take Wahlstrom, and we should, getting a kid like Dobson would be still be a coup". Then it came... "with the 9th pick in the 2018 NHL entry draft, the Rangers select...", I thought for sure the next words were going to be "from the US National Development Program"... but they weren't. Instead, I heard Traktor. I was stunned. Why for once couldn't we make the obvious move? The only thing that is truly obvious is the Islanders somehow Islandering and getting Wahstrom at 10, only for him to have an ABYSMAL start to the year. I could not have been more wrong about VK.
After that was the K'Andre Miller pick. While I loved that pick and was fine with the price paid, others were not. Some people went as far as to call him a mid 2nd round or later talent.
Some of those same people mocked the Lundkvist pick. Wasn't he just selected to the U-20 team preliminary roster? Same as Ragnarsson?
Speaking of Ragnarsson and later round picks, Keane at 88 also looks like a great pick.
The Rangers went against the grain on a few picks and so far they are paying off.