New York Rangers have strong group of prospects in pipeline

[HF Article]

Photo: Goaltender Igor Shestyorkin is one of three netminders the New York Rangers have drafted over the last two years. Shestyorkin was a third round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. (courtesy of Aaron Bell/OHL Images)


 

After being weak for several years at both the goaltending and center positions, the New York Rangers have shored up their organization depth chart and have a fairly strong group of prospects who will vie for NHL spots within the next two to five years.



The 2014 NHL Draft was a particularly good one for New York between the pipes as the team picked up both*Brandon Halverson and*Igor Shestyorkin as goaltending prospects.… read more

The post New York Rangers have strong group of prospects in pipeline appeared first on Hockey's Future.



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[Raspewtin]

2014 so far is a good draft for the two goalies, but no one else.

Walcott looks good, know nothing about Nej, but Iverson, Mantha (in his incredibly limited playing time), and Nanne seem to be having very unimpressive years. Iverson in particular, since I've seen him a decent amount and the others none.

But 2014 was a garbage draft overall.

 

[Raspewtin]

Whoa, just caught this tidbit

Brady Skjei, the top prospect in the Rangers’ system is currently playing for the University of Minnesota. Off to a great start to the season (four points in eight games), Skjei is a two-way blueliner, He missed several weeks in November because of a lower-body injury.

Really? That's high praise there.

 

[Doctyl]

Main boards say we suck

 

[Whiskers*]

If Brady Skjie is our top prospect we are in big trouble!! He is a average College hockey player at this point!!

 

[Doctyl]

Not counting Duclair, Skjei and Buch are the two I'm most excited about. Shesty also interests me, but successful goalies seem to be more of a waiting game.

 

[Machinehead]

Sheshtyorkin is the next Lundqvist. Nah, screw that, next Talbot! Aim for the stars, kid.

I still say we have an extremely underwhelming group. That's what happens when you trade your 1st rounder literally every year.

 

[FLYLine27*]

Meh.

Strong? Not really. We have a some "Potential studs" with Duclar and Buch. And maybe one of the 2 goalies we drafted this past draft will turn into a starting NHL goalie (which is huge), and we have a potentially good dman in Brady who there is a big question mark still with what he will turn into(calling him a better prospect than Buch or Duclair by HF is laughable).

Besides that, eh, not so great looking. McI potential top 4 also.

 

[Machinehead]

He probably won't start, but Halverson made the national team.

http://worldjuniors.usahockey.com/page/show/701595-roster

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

good thing our core is young and will be around for quite a while...

 

[Raspewtin]

He probably won't start, but Halverson made the national team.

http://worldjuniors.usahockey.com/page/show/701595-roster

No chance he upends Demko, but nice to see him there none-the-less.

 

[Raspewtin]

This isn't a sexy group, that's for sure.

But there's a lot to like at all positions.

I feel like prospects are so much of a "grass is greener on the other side" shtick.

 

[KingWantsCup]

Main boards say we suck

Main board is right lol.

 

[Ail]

The Rangers farm system continues to churn out impact players on the regular, yet it sucks all the time.

Very contradictory.

I guess some people are not happy unless there is constantly an all-star player in the making somewhere in the system. (Which they might have one or two of anyway in Duclair and Buchnevich should they ever reach full potential.)

I have no issue with calling Skjei the best prospect in the system except that Duclair is in the NHL right now at 19. Personally right now I would have Duclair and Hayes at 1a and 1b, Miller has fallen off a bit since he was not able to stick in the NHL thus far.

Duclair/Hayes
Skjei
Buchnevich
Miller


As far as high impact/potential goes. Obviously Fast is close to sticking and should be regarded highly. I think Walcott will surprise a lot of people, I like his upside.

 

[nyr2k2]

One bit on Iverson--he wore an A on his sweater at the beginning of the season, but hasn't for weeks.

 

[eco's bones]

Basically I see Duclair, Hayes and Buchnevich as top 6 forwards and Skjei as a top 4 D. Miller and Fast more as bottom 6 players. I don't think there's much controversy that any of them won't be productive NHL players. They are our first group.

Closest after that Lindberg, Haggerty at forward. Allen-McIlrath on D. Skapski having a very good year in the AHL.

Pretty much all of our other not pro prospects are going to have to go through Hartford for at least a year. Halvorson and Shestorkin both look like really good goalie prospects. The best two d-men IMO Graves and Zamorsky--the best forward Tambellini. Nieves has been making appearances lately. He has size, speed and puck skills. Wonder if he's not just a slightly larger version of Erik Christensen.

As far as Walcott his skill package is very, very good. At 20 years old in the Q--he should be having a really good year. His main problem is he needs to add at least 20 lbs. to have any shot at the NHL. Erik Karlsson came in at 170 lbs. Walcott is not Erik Karlsson. Even very small defensemen are at the least 180 lbs. That's Mat Bodie's problem too.

 

[Roo Returns]

It's all about results not names.

Ryan Graves looks like a very underrated prospect.

Walcott has good potential.

And Tambelini is very skinny but he's producing at the junior levels.

We all know Skjei and Buch, but these three intrigue me.

 

[Charlie Conway]

It's not incredible, but it could be worse, too. I'm glad we have better goaltending prospects, but the forward group is still somewhat lacking.

We need some centers, especially if Miller is staying on the wing. I figure Lindberg has a 3C ceiling, but is more likely to be a 4C. Same with Fast on the wing, but I see both being good bottom 6 guys when they max out.

 

[Doctyl]

It's all about results not names.

Ryan Graves looks like a very underrated prospect.

Walcott has good potential.

And Tambelini is very skinny but he's producing at the junior levels.

We all know Skjei and Buch, but these three intrigue me.

Yea, when you want to draft a big mean defender you do it at 110th overall not 10th overall when theres like 15 other guys just oozing potential.

 

[Leslie Treff]

While I did not write the headline of the article, I do feel that the Rangers have a very strong group of prospects, especially considering that many of the top picks have been traded away. Despite the fact that Kristo and McIlrath will likely never reach their potential, if Duclair, Buchnevich, Hayes, Skjei and one of the goaltenders become good NHL players, that is a very good result. If Graves then becomes something, you have a very fine pipeline. Miller may yet become a solid second to third line player, but even if he does not, Miller was a decent pick at the time. Given what the NHL team looks like and how many players are homegrown, if Duclair, Buch, Hayes and Skjei are on the roster in two years, that is a really good result.

 

[eco's bones]

To me the Hayes signing game changed things a bit. Center is such a key position and Hayes brings great size, has very good skills--he's competitive and he's a puck magnet. I see the guy as a scoring center. He needs to get better on the face-offs--a little better with his defensive reads but bringing him in was a truly big deal.

Of Halvorsen, Shesterkin and Skapski--have to think that at least one of them is NHL material. It's possible that before the AHL season is over Skapski will be Hartford's No. 1 goalie. He's been really good--so far. Halvorsen and Shesterkin are both having good seasons as well.

 

[richardsequalscup*]

HF has been anti Rangers prospects ever since I can remember. This team went to the finals last year and has 4 rookies playing up front. Fast, Miller, Hayes and Duclair. How many other of these teams with great farms have 4 rookies playing this year on a team that actually was good last year? Answer. Zero.

I think the Rangers will find a number 1 goalie with one of their 2 goalie picks this year. Hayes looks at worst like a good 3rd line NHL forward. Fast is rounding into a nice 4th line forward. Duclair and Miller are the questions. Too early to say they don't or do have 1st-2nd line potential.

You hear a lot about all these other organization prospects. Then you look at those teams years later and most of those prospects are still in the minors.

 

[Leslie Treff]

To me the Hayes signing game changed things a bit. Center is such a key position and Hayes brings great size, has very good skills--he's competitive and he's a puck magnet. I see the guy as a scoring center. He needs to get better on the face-offs--a little better with his defensive reads but bringing him in was a truly big deal.

A source told me that the reason Hayes signed with the Rangers was because the team told him that they would let him play center. The other teams that were after him wanted him on the wing. He wanted to play center, so he came to New York. I believe that they would deny it, but New York was happily surprised to sign Hayes--they thought he was going elsewhere.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

While I did not write the headline of the article, I do feel that the Rangers have a very strong group of prospects, especially considering that many of the top picks have been traded away. Despite the fact that Kristo and McIlrath will likely never reach their potential, if Duclair, Buchnevich, Hayes, Skjei and one of the goaltenders become good NHL players, that is a very good result. If Graves then becomes something, you have a very fine pipeline. Miller may yet become a solid second to third line player, but even if he does not, Miller was a decent pick at the time. Given what the NHL team looks like and how many players are homegrown, if Duclair, Buch, Hayes and Skjei are on the roster in two years, that is a really good result.

Being on a roster and producing on a winning roster are huge differences.

My barometer is simple: the production/winning at the NHL level is seamless when you plug in prospects.

The jury is still out for the current group. I don't see it as strong as the Callahan-Dubinsky-Staal-Girardi-Korpikoski-Anisimov-Sauer group was.

The 2004-2006 drafts were stellar.
The 2007-2009 drafts were stellar
The 2010-2012 drafts were fair.
The 2013-2014 drafts can't be judged yet.

 

[Raspewtin]

Yea, when you want to draft a big mean defender you do it at 110th overall not 10th overall when theres like 15 other guys just oozing potential.

Totally oversimplified way of looking at it.