Draft and UDFA Thread 2017-18

[Matz03]

put this at Roster Building but maybe it really belongs here
curious your thoughts on "the other 16"

Even with Andresson and Chytil, the Rangers C prospect depth is really thin. Would like to see Hartford get two of these guys to help get them more talent, Byron, Kerfoot, and Toninato would help them bridge the gap. They will need some cheap forwards on ELC's in the bottom 6. And I do think they have a great chance at landing Toninato if they want him. He'd probably an instant upgrade over Fogarty, who many once imagined as a 4th line C.

 

[Ranger Ric]

I would argue that it is the Rangers winger depth not center depth that is weak. Just looking at our HF rankings. we have 3 centers, Anderson, Chytil and Nieves in the top 11. Other than Buchnevich, who really isn't a prospect at this point, we only had one winger Ryan Group in our top 15.

The point about Bryan, who is a center, was that he didn't see Pittsburgh as having much opportunity for him as a center. I am not sure he will look at the Rangers center depth and see a great future with two first round picks already signed. But Byron probably is the guy on the August 15 free agent list, other than Butcher, Kerfoot and Toninato, that is likely to receive attention.

Lots of speculation, which may not be accurate, that Kerfoot is going to sign with his hometown Vancouver.

Toninato looks like an interesting bottom six type center. He seems like the most likely signee. And given the tie in to Pionk and Hartford signee Kotyk, if the Rangers were interested they would have these guys talking to him.

But Toninato is going to want an NHL contract. The Rangers are at 48 contracts to date. They usually stay at or around 48 contracts so they have flexibility to bring in other players at the trade deadline. One contract, Gettinger, will definitely slide and Anderson, Chytil and Day could slide freeing up some contracts. Depending on the Rangers' plans for these last 3 and the possibility that the Rangers may want to sign an NHL veteran forward, it is not clear that the Rangers will be willing to use an NHL contract on Toninato. I am not saying they won't because I don't know what their plans are for Anderson and Chytil and whether they plan to sign an NHL veteran, just that it isn't certain to me at this time that they plan on using an NHL contract on Toninato even assuming he might be interested in the Rangers.

Even with Andresson and Chytil, the Rangers C prospect depth is really thin. Would like to see Hartford get two of these guys to help get them more talent, Byron, Kerfoot, and Toninato would help them bridge the gap. They will need some cheap forwards on ELC's in the bottom 6. And I do think they have a great chance at landing Toninato if they want him. He'd probably an instant upgrade over Fogarty, who many once imagined as a 4th line C.

 

[Edge]

Some of the guys mentioned in this thread are decent prospects, but I feel like some people may start to think that these guys are on the higher end of the spectrum. They're not.

 

[Matz03]

I would argue that it is the Rangers winger depth not center depth that is weak. Just looking at our HF rankings. we have 3 centers, Anderson, Chytil and Nieves in the top 11. Other than Buchnevich, who really isn't a prospect at this point, we only had one winger Ryan Group in our top 15.

The point about Bryan, who is a center, was that he didn't see Pittsburgh as having much opportunity for him as a center. I am not sure he will look at the Rangers center depth and see a great future with two first round picks already signed. But Byron probably is the guy on the August 15 free agent list, other than Butcher, Kerfoot and Toninato, that is likely to receive attention.

Lots of speculation, which may not be accurate, that Kerfoot is going to sign with his hometown Vancouver.

Toninato looks like an interesting bottom six type center. He seems like the most likely signee. And given the tie in to Pionk and Hartford signee Kotyk, if the Rangers were interested they would have these guys talking to him.

But Toninato is going to want an NHL contract. The Rangers are at 48 contracts to date. They usually stay at or around 48 contracts so they have flexibility to bring in other players at the trade deadline. One contract, Gettinger, will definitely slide and Anderson, Chytil and Day could slide freeing up some contracts. Depending on the Rangers' plans for these last 3 and the possibility that the Rangers may want to sign an NHL veteran forward, it is not clear that the Rangers will be willing to use an NHL contract on Toninato. I am not saying they won't because I don't know what their plans are for Anderson and Chytil and whether they plan to sign an NHL veteran, just that it isn't certain to me at this time that they plan on using an NHL contract on Toninato even assuming he might be interested in the Rangers.

To me Nieves hasn't done anything, college or AHL to prove he's really even a 4th line center option. People love his tool set and it looks like he'll be given a long look purely because of our lack of center depth. Chytil is a darkhorse future #1 center, but his time won't come for another 2-3-4 years, the dude is 17 still. Andersson is more mature but I see him making NHL first as a winger then eventually shifting back to center, I don't believe he'll make an impact at camp to earn an NHL spot, if he does it's once again due to lack of center depth. I believe part of Hartford's issue is their lack of talent at center, be it prospect or AHL vets. The Rangers are forcing guys like Nieves to be possible 4C options because they have no one else to choose from. I don't see incoming AHL players that could be center call up options mid season either, Carey & Nieves are probably it.

Yes the prospect wing depth is weakest in terms of quality, but at least we have a decent top 9 of wingers at NHL level and many of the younger. Wingers are also easier find via UFA, trade, if not future drafts so they can address this still.

Kovac's, Gropp, Gettinger will need some help up the middle if they are to develop into anything. So I do think there is room to add another 1-2 talented centers to the mix in Hartford. A few contracts will slide, a few more will expire next year so I don't see any issues bringing on a few more worthy elc's. Chapie, Fogarty, Gilmour, Stromwall can very likely not be around next year.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Getting way ahead of myself, but who do y'all like more this year between Wahlstrom and McBain?

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Haven't seen much of McBain but i really like Wahlström.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I haven't seen much of McBain either, but I think Wahlstrom is extremely overrated. I think he's a back-end first round talent or early second. I don't agree with those that claim he's top 10-15.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

First prospect tournament of the year begins tomorrow, the Ivan Hlinka. All the best draft eligible players born in 2000 are there, besides Dahlin, Svechnikov, Khovanov and the American players, as the USA takes a back up team to this tournament.

These are the players I'm gonna watch out for. Underlined players are 2019 draft eligibles.

USA: Hain, Krygier, Jensen
Canada: McIsaac, Merkley, Woo, Smith, Veleno, Foote, MacDonald
Finland: Annunen, Kokkonen, Utunen, Salmela, Kotkaniemi, Kupari, Kakko
Russia: Miftakhov, Galenyuk, Okhotyuk, Denisenko, Guskov, Rotenberg, Sokolov, Zavgorodny
Sweden: Lindbom, Boqvist, Ginning, Back, Fagemo, Olofsson, Hallander, Gustafsson, Wernblom
Czech Republic: Dostal, Malik, Zabransky, Lauko
Switzerland: Gross
Slovakia: Can't find their roster

 

[Mac n Gs]

No Filip Zadina? Is he hurt or just not playing?

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Guessing he's with U20?

 

[McD37]

Slovakia: Can't find their roster

http://www.hockeyslovakia.sk/sk/clanok/realizacny-tim-oznamil-zaverecnu-nominaciu-na-ivan-hlinka-memorial-cup

 

[Caser]

Pavel Poryadin came back from the Rangers dev camp and started doing things like that:

 

[Irishguy42]

Wew.

That was slick and not too complicated. I like it.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

AV's reaction when Gorton told him he might sign someone else named Pavel. Best for the kid's sake that we don't sign him, let him have success elsewhere.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

No Filip Zadina? Is he hurt or just not playing?

Ineligible, too old. This tournament is for players born in 2000 and later.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

http://www.hockeyslovakia.sk/sk/clanok/realizacny-tim-oznamil-zaverecnu-nominaciu-na-ivan-hlinka-memorial-cup

Thanks, I wouldn't pick out any of those names as players to watch. I don't think 2018 is a bad draft for Slovakia, but the players to watch are late birthdays like the Roman twins, Fehervary, Liska. None of those players on Slovakia's roster for this tournament even made their 2017 WJC18 team, which is strange that a team would not take any players from the next year, teams usually take at least one or two, sometimes a lot.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Its said every Swedish defenseman who can skate is the next EK. Boqvist is the closest thing to EK style since EK. He even has in his twitter bio that his idol is EK.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Boqvist is insane, the sick part is that it's very possible one of Boqvist or Hughes drop out of top 10 (which means we might have a shot at getting one of them!).

That's how insane this 2018 draft class is.

 

[Ghost of jas]

Obviouly you take the BPA when you draft, but, IMO, the Rangers really need to add some highly-skilled wingers.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Obviouly you take the BPA when you draft, but, IMO, the Rangers really need to add some highly-skilled wingers.

Yeah I agree with this

If there is a amazing defenseman available, you take them

But they need wing prospects. Gropp is the best winger prospect they have, and he most likely is going to bust, or end up a 4th liner

The guy I really want them to take is Brady Tkachuk. I kinda hope he drops, but I doubt he will. And the team won't be nearly bad enough for a high enough pick to take him

 

[Steve Kournianos]

2018 draft studs on display at the Hlinka. Hard to pick who is the best of them all. Early on, I'd say Boqvist, Zavgorodny, Veleno, Lauko and Kupari are easily the best players for their respective nations.

Boqvist looks to be on another level. Interesting to see how he does in the SHL.

 

[Beacon]

http://m.iltalehti.fi/smliiga/201707132200264177_sm.shtml

Ranger development camp invitee, Aleksandar Georgiev, is rumored to be coming over to North America.

Potentially with Hartford?

According to our Scandinavian posters (and others outside the HFBoards), the Finnish league is inferior to the SHL, but not by a wide margin. It is somewhere between the SHL and Allsvenskan. Since the SHL is a similar quality league to the AHL (maybe a shade better), I'd guess the Liiga is below the AHL, but pretty close. Georgiev was excellent in the Liiga, but probably not yet ready to be an AHL star, maybe not even an AHL starter. Who knows, maybe he improves, but I wouldn't bet the farm that he can be a good AHL starter. I'd still like to acquire a goalie who has a record as a good AHL starter.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Jacob Olofsson is another Swede who's game I really like.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Jacob Olofsson is another Swede who's game I really like.

Yes, he's been excellent, as has Jonatan Berggren.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Jacob Olofsson is another Swede who's game I really like.

Adding him to the list of players I'll watch this year. Big kid too for Allvenskan, he should do really well