Draft 2024 NHL Draft Prospects & Undrafted Free Agents

[eco's bones]

NYR been very active w drafted college guys who hadn't signed - Gilmour, Vesey, Hayes

but undrafted college skaters
who signed first NHL deal w NYR
and had reasonable NHL career

can't think of too many in recent times...
post-lockout, who besides Pionk? ... and Gilroy (225 games)

these are guys who came to mind,
lemme know who i forgot
Pavelich, McPhee (surprisingly few NHL games at 144 incl PS), Ortmeyer
Pionk, Thomas Poeck, Bothwell

Graf might sign with his hometown Boston team. Some players will definitely look up and down a team's roster both on the team and prospects and make a decision from that because they want to have some kind of opening. Sometimes udfa's sign with teams because they'll give them NHL games right off. Sometimes it's the venue and that's where MSG can work in our favor.

The Rangers don't really have openings on the main roster right now and we have a lot of good prospect forwards. My guess is Graf is more likely to sign with the Bruins (than us) who have iffy scoring depth up front and because the Bruins have been trading top draft picks for a while now and so don't have a lot of prospect depth either.

 

[NYR Viper]

Graf might sign with his hometown Boston team. Some players will definitely look up and down a team's roster both on the team and prospects and make a decision from that because they want to have some kind of opening. Sometimes udfa's sign with teams because they'll give them NHL games right off. Sometimes it's the venue and that's where MSG can work in our favor.

The Rangers don't really have openings on the main roster right now and we have a lot of good prospect forwards. My guess is Graf is more likely to sign with the Bruins (than us) who have iffy scoring depth up front and because the Bruins have been trading top draft picks for a while now and so don't have a lot of prospect depth either.

I see that as likely as well. Quillan on the other hand, I'd tell him I'd sign him and let him play a game this year to start the clock and point to that 3C spot for next season as well as the highly skilled group of wingers he can look forward to playing with moving forward. I mean if I was a 22 year old coming out of NCAA, the Rangers would be pretty high on my list

 

[cwede]

You mean Gilroy

Gilmour had been drafted by Calgary, that's why HE was listed with Vesey, Hayes, also drafted elsehwere

Gilroy was undrafted and signed first NHL contract with NYR so he is with Pionk, etc

 

[noncents]

NYR been very active w drafted college guys who hadn't signed - Gilmour, Vesey, Hayes

but undrafted college skaters
who signed first NHL deal w NYR
and had reasonable NHL career

can't think of too many in recent times...
post-lockout, who besides Pionk? ... and Gilroy (225 games)

these are guys who came to mind,
lemme know who i forgot
Pavelich, McPhee (surprisingly few NHL games at 144 incl PS), Ortmeyer
Pionk, Thomas Poeck, Bothwell

thanks for clarifying. 100% on that difference. i also guess we just signed that siemen kid

 

[noncents]

Quillan to toronto. f*** that

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

NYR been very active w drafted college guys who hadn't signed - Gilmour, Vesey, Hayes

but undrafted college skaters
who signed first NHL deal w NYR
and had reasonable NHL career

can't think of too many in recent times...
post-lockout, who besides Pionk? ... and Gilroy (225 games)

these are guys who came to mind,
lemme know who i forgot
Pavelich, McPhee (surprisingly few NHL games at 144 incl PS), Ortmeyer
Pionk, Thomas Poeck, Bothwell

Yeah, the UDFA signings haven't really worked out aside from Talbot, Pionk, Ortmeyer and Gilroy to a lesser degree.

Justin Richards
Patrick Khodorenko
Austin Rueschhoff
Ryan Haggerty
Vinni Lettieri
Bobby Trivigno
Mat Bodie
Conor Allen
Tommy Grant
Patrick Newell
Kyle Jean
Nick Jones
Adam Chapie
Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Ahti Oksanen
Jeff Malcolm
Chris Nell

Some of these were on AHL deals in Hartford but I remember all these participating in Ranger training camps.

The thing is, when it comes to UDFAs, the success-rate is low. Even lower than signing free agents who were actually drafted. UDFAs are a long-shot. And we've had our fair share or them, even from Europe with Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist, Andres Ambühl, Malte Stromwall, Gustav Rydahl, Alexei Bereglazov etc.

 

[RangersFan1994]

Yeah, the UDFA signings haven't really worked out aside from Talbot, Pionk, Ortmeyer and Gilroy to a lesser degree.

Justin Richards
Patrick Khodorenko
Austin Rueschhoff
Ryan Haggerty
Vinni Lettieri
Bobby Trivigno
Mat Bodie
Conor Allen
Tommy Grant
Patrick Newell
Kyle Jean
Nick Jones
Adam Chapie
Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Ahti Oksanen
Jeff Malcolm
Chris Nell

Some of these were on AHL deals in Hartford but I remember all these participating in Ranger training camps.

The thing is, when it comes to UDFAs, the success-rate is low. Even lower than signing free agents who were actually drafted. UDFAs are a long-shot. And we've had our fair share or them, even from Europe with Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist, Andres Ambühl, Malte Stromwall, Gustav Rydahl, Alexei Bereglazov etc.

Georgiev was an undrafted free agent from Finland. Kinda worked out considering he is an NHL player although an inconvenient one

 

[NYR Viper]

Quillan to toronto. f*** that

Is this something you saw?

 

[Ranger Ric]

Is this something you saw?

Quinnipiac's Quillan, who scored national championship OT game-winner in 2023, leaves after junior year, signs with NHL's Maple Leafs - College Hockey | USCHO.com

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Monday that the club has signed Quinnipiac junior forward Jacob Quillan to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in

www.uscho.com

 

[B17 Apricots]

To be fair a number of them did turn into decent organizational pieces, so there's a little bit of value in that. Haggerty was traded for Raanta. A bunch of them also came at a time when we had given all our picks away and had nothing in the system, so giving out ELCs to long shots wasn't a big deal.

 

[B17 Apricots]

Hopefully we're in on T.J. Hughes, I'm assuming he's gonna go pro when the seasons over. We'll get to see him next week against our boys. Michigan vs BC April 11th.

T.J. Hughes at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of T.J. Hughes, 2001-11-09 Hamilton, ON, CAN Canada. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Michigan. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[cwede]

Yeah, the UDFA signings haven't really worked out aside from Talbot, Pionk, Ortmeyer and Gilroy to a lesser degree.

Justin Richards
Patrick Khodorenko
Austin Rueschhoff
Ryan Haggerty
Vinni Lettieri
Bobby Trivigno
Mat Bodie
Conor Allen
Tommy Grant
Patrick Newell
Kyle Jean
Nick Jones
Adam Chapie
Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Ahti Oksanen
Jeff Malcolm
Chris Nell

Some of these were on AHL deals in Hartford but I remember all these participating in Ranger training camps.

The thing is, when it comes to UDFAs, the success-rate is low. Even lower than signing free agents who were actually drafted. UDFAs are a long-shot. And we've had our fair share or them, even from Europe with Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist, Andres Ambühl, Malte Stromwall, Gustav Rydahl, Alexei Bereglazov etc.

thanks for the detailed list
a trip thru history for some of us obsessives

Oksanen maybe, for me, the most disappointing name on the list,
key player at BU, was an exciting signing
NA pro didn't work out but he is still producing in SHL

Haggerty situation continues to amuse and amaze me -
was his career torpedoed by his agent?
or did they know he really wasn't that good ...
(a) Signed w NYR right after RPI was eliminated in first weekend of ECAC playoffs - early March
(b) As signing condition, demanded being with the NHL team, not AHL, and burning an ELC year
(c) That season Hartford had a competitive team and made a deep AHL playoff run
(d) Haggerty could have joined Pack in peak game shape, and had 6-7 weeks to kickstart his pro career
Instead he just practiced with the optional/extra NHL guys,
and when his Pack career finally started, many months later, he didn't distinguish himself
BUT it worked out for NYR, who flipped him to Chicago for a few useful seasons of Raanta

 

[Mac n Gs]

 

[NYR Viper]

Now I like our chances

 

[Mugless]

Bruins signed C Jaxon Nelson from Minnesota, so that could be the lock that they're out on Graf.

 

[RangersFan1994]

Any chance Rangers sign some dman? They really need to add more young depth that could be another Girardi type. Rangers really dont have another Schneider type in the system, someone in Hartford that is close or is NHL ready to step in. Rangers need to add center, RW and defense depth

 

[Ranger Ric]

Any chance Rangers sign some dman? They really need to add more young depth that could be another Girardi type. Rangers really dont have another Schneider type in the system, someone in Hartford that is close or is NHL ready to step in. Rangers need to add center, RW and defense depth

With the signing of Mancini and Siedem the focus on defensemen should be left shooting D. The Rangers have plenty of young wingers but don't have a young right hand shooting winger other than Rempe who is limited. The team really needs center depth especially if Laba does not sign this year. Here are guys from frozen four teams:

BC -- Jacob Bengtsrom, LD
Denver -- Boston Buchburger LD
Denver -- Carter King C
Michigan -- TJ Hughes C/RW

There are lots of guys like Graf who are available. Too many to name.

There also are CHL and overseas free agents.

Finally there are some drafted players who may/will not sign with their teams. Two guys to keep an eye on are:

Minnesota -- Bryce Brodzinski RW (The Ranger organization has had the other three Brodzinski brothers in their system. Drafted by Philadelphia

Michigan -- Jacob Truscott LD drafted by Vancouver but announced he is going free agency

 

[Ranger Ric]

To be fair a number of them did turn into decent organizational pieces, so there's a little bit of value in that. Haggerty was traded for Raanta. A bunch of them also came at a time when we had given all our picks away and had nothing in the system, so giving out ELCs to long shots wasn't a big deal.

I was going to make this point but B17 Apricots beat me to it. You can't fill out an AHL roster without young free agents, particularly when you are like the Rangers and only have 4-5 draft picks a year. The AHL limits the number of veteran free agents that you can play. So even if Bobby Trivigno doesn't make the NHL (which seems likely) he still has been a useful contributor to Hartford.

Brandon Scanlon also is someone who has a chance to be an NHL player. Time will tell. But even if not he has been the defensive rock in Hartford this year.

These guys are free lottery tickets and they pay off more than the lottery.

 

[nyr2k2]

Yeah, the UDFA signings haven't really worked out aside from Talbot, Pionk, Ortmeyer and Gilroy to a lesser degree.

Justin Richards
Patrick Khodorenko
Austin Rueschhoff
Ryan Haggerty
Vinni Lettieri
Bobby Trivigno
Mat Bodie
Conor Allen
Tommy Grant
Patrick Newell
Kyle Jean
Nick Jones
Adam Chapie
Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Ahti Oksanen
Jeff Malcolm
Chris Nell

Some of these were on AHL deals in Hartford but I remember all these participating in Ranger training camps.

The thing is, when it comes to UDFAs, the success-rate is low. Even lower than signing free agents who were actually drafted. UDFAs are a long-shot. And we've had our fair share or them, even from Europe with Ville Meskanen, Michael Lindqvist, Andres Ambühl, Malte Stromwall, Gustav Rydahl, Alexei Bereglazov etc.

They also brought guys to camp like Matt Read, Andrej Sustr, Barclay Goodrow, Nikita Zaitsev, etc. They were either unable to sign those guys or chose not to.

 

[Ranger Ric]

Colin Graf Update from reliable source:

 

[CTTribe73]

I was going to make this point but B17 Apricots beat me to it. You can't fill out an AHL roster without young free agents, particularly when you are like the Rangers and only have 4-5 draft picks a year. The AHL limits the number of veteran free agents that you can play. So even if Bobby Trivigno doesn't make the NHL (which seems likely) he still has been a useful contributor to Hartford.

Brandon Scanlon also is someone who has a chance to be an NHL player. Time will tell. But even if not he has been the defensive rock in Hartford this year.

These guys are free lottery tickets and they pay off more than the lottery.

Yes. Like in baseball, you need vets on your AAA roster to play beside the actual prospects.

 

[RangersFan1994]

I wonder if the Rangers will sign RW Bryce Brodzinski. RW drafted 196th overall by Flyers in 2019

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

They also brought guys to camp like Matt Read, Andrej Sustr, Barclay Goodrow, Nikita Zaitsev, etc. They were either unable to sign those guys or chose not to.

I think R.J. Umberger joined our training camp as well one year, before he signed.

 

[NYR Viper]

 

[cwede]

I think R.J. Umberger joined our training camp as well one year, before he signed.

i believe RJU was on NYR Reserve List at the time, but didn't sign, then joined Flyers

Acquired from Canucks for Rucinsky,

• 2004-Mar-09 Traded from New York Rangers to Vancouver Canucks for Martin Grenier and R.J. Umberger