Prospect Info: New York Rangers Prospect Rankings - Winter 2015

[Beacon]

After over a month of voting, we have our Winter 2015 Rangers Prospect Rankings.

The next round of voting will not be in the Summer as before, but in September immediately after the preseason so we get a better look at our prospects.

WHO IS A PROSPECT: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/whatmakesaprospect


TOP PROSPECTS

1. LW/RW Anthony Duclair
2. C Kevin Hayes
3. LW/RW Pavel Buchnevich
4. D Brady Skjei
5. RW Jesper Fast


SECOND TIER

6. C Oscar Lindberg
7. D Dylan McIlrath
8. G Igor Shesterkin
9. D Ryan Graves
10. G Brandon Halverson
11. C Adam Tambellini
12. G Mackenzie Skapski
13. D Conor Allen
14. RW Ryan Haggerty
15. LW Marek Hrivik
16. C Cristoval Nieves


PROJECTS & SUSPECTS

17. RW Richard Nejezchleb
18. C Steven Fogarty
19. D Tommy Hughes
20. D Daniel Walcott
21. D Petr Zamorsky
22. RW Dany Kristo
23. D Ryan Mantha
24. C Keegan Iverson
25. D Sam Noreau


LONG SHOTS

26. D Calle Andersson
27. LW Ryan Bourque
28. D Troy Donnay
29. D Tyler Nanne
30. C Michael St. Croix


HONORABLE MENTIONS

31. D Mat Bodie
32. RW Josh Nicholls
33. LW Chris McCarthy
34. RW Michael Kantor
35. G Jason Missiaen

Click to read more...

 

[Beacon]

For those wondering how I ranked the Honorable Mentions, it was based on the number of votes they got in the final round. If there was a tie, whoever got added first went ahead.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Great job with the prospect polls Beacon. I think this list is pretty accurate.

 

[cwede]

I think we rank the baby goalies too high,
and guys too low who've been in the system a couple years.
but what do i know?
i wouldn't have picked Weise to be the most successful non-'blue chip' prospect after Hagelin from draft years '06-'09
(and Hags was an underrated special case, there was no real precedent for Europeans to take the NCAA route)

obviously the great news all round is the depth of the pool
and the success of Gordie Clark's scouts - for the 'finds' like to Fast and the under-appreciated like JT Miller

 

[Raspewtin]

Walcott and Nieves are too low. That's my only complaint. Good order nonetheless.

Slightly agree with cwede that the younger goalies are getting quite a bit of love despite being unproven. But they've both had such tremendous development years I find it justified.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Great job with the prospect polls Beacon. I think this list is pretty accurate.

Agreed. I'd move guys up and down one or two positions throughout the list, but I don't think there's anyone there who's ranked more than 3-4 slots away from where he should be.

I do wonder at the seemingly arbitrary cutoff of 16 between second tier and projects & suspects, though.

 

[E-Train]

Nice job Beacon, as always.

 

[Miamipuck]

My only complaint is #2 should be #1.

 

[Beacon]

Thank you Gardner McKay and E-Train.

I think this prospect list is quiet strong, unexpectedly so because our top 3 prospects are a pair of fairly recent third rounders and a free agent we couldn't have expected to sign.

Our next poll won't be as strong. Two of the top 5 prospects (Hayes and Fast) will graduate. Kristo, Bodie and Missiaen will either leave or age out, but either way will be off the list. Allen will age out. These 6 prospects will be replaced with 5 draftees (maybe fewer since we are more likely to trade away picks than acquire them), but without the first round pick, what we lose will be better than what we get - at least before the draftees play a game post-draft.

Also, some/most of St. Croix, Nicholls, Noreau, McCarthy, Nejezchleb, Tambellini, Walcott, Donnay will fail to make the AHL, dropping their stock further. Also, if Zamorsky and Andersson don't come over to North America and make the AHL, their stock will collapse.

On the upside, I'm hope the Rangers will again sign a few UDFAs. We may not luck out and get another Hayes, but to sign another Haggerty is very possible if the team makes a real effort to do so.

I think we'll probably do top-25 instead of top-30 next time and the rest will be honorable mentions. If we trade a pick or two and don't sign any UDFAs, we may just do a top-20.

 

[Beacon]

To show how crucial signing Prospect Free Agent has been to our farm, here's what our list would've looked like without them. It's decent, but not great on top, then collapses totally around midpoint with total long shots for the second half of the list, and stops at 23 prospects. It would be bottom-5 in the NHL.

1. LW/RW Anthony Duclair
2. LW/RW Pavel Buchnevich
3. D Brady Skjei
4. RW Jesper Fast
5. C Oscar Lindberg
6. D Dylan McIlrath
7. G Igor Shesterkin
8. D Ryan Graves
9. G Brandon Halverson
10. C Adam Tambellini
11. G Mackenzie Skapski
12. C Cristoval Nieves
13. RW Richard Nejezchleb
14. C Steven Fogarty
15. D Daniel Walcott
16. RW Dany Kristo
17. D Ryan Mantha
18. C Keegan Iverson
19. D Sam Noreau
20. D Calle Andersson
21. LW Ryan Bourque
22. D Tyler Nanne
23. C Michael St. Croix

No more prospects.

 

[Raspewtin]

I definitely expect our prospect list at this time next year to be a lot weaker.

 

[eco's bones]

There's some differences in how I would rank all these players. I imagine most everyone has some quibbles. All I'm going to say is I still think Kevin Hayes should be No. 1. He'll be at least a top 6 center with great size. A player like that is rare. The way he's been coming on recently I suspect a few voters might change their minds if they were voting on it today.

 

[Beacon]

There's some differences in how I would rank all these players. I imagine most everyone has some quibbles. All I'm going to say is I still think Kevin Hayes should be No. 1. He'll be at least a top 6 center with great size. A player like that is rare. The way he's been coming on recently I suspect a few voters might change their minds if they were voting on it today.

I suspect if we re-voted right now with Duke being lazy in the CHL and Hayes turning it up instead of having the usual college rookie collapse, Hayes would be our #1. But we can't vote on our prospects every month.

Funny enough, this is Hayes's only run in our prospect polls. I've never seen that before. He was acquired right after the last poll and will graduate before the next one, barring serious injury.

 

[eco's bones]

I suspect if we re-voted right now with Duke being lazy in the CHL and Hayes turning it up instead of having the usual college rookie collapse, Hayes would be our #1. But we can't vote on our prospects every month.

Funny enough, this is Hayes's only run in our prospect polls. I've never seen that before. He was acquired right after the last poll and will graduate before the next one, barring serious injury.

To me he's a guy who just keeps getting better and better. He's fit right in. Kreider being here probably helps him but he has a lot of talent on his own right. Most championship teams have a big talented center. I think Duclair, Buchnevich and Skjei are great prospects all the same but center is a more important position than wing and Hayes is doing good things for us right now. He's at 25 points right now. I'm thinking barring injury he's getting 40 before the year is up and next year even more.

 

[Beacon]

Unlike in the past, our Prospect Poll will NOT be conducted during the summer and instead will take place after the pre-season. The remaining prospects (based on the Winter Poll after taking out those who aged out, ended contract or got traded away) are as follows:

TOP PROSPECTS

1. LW/RW Pavel Buchnevich
2. D Brady Skjei
3. C Oscar Lindberg
4. D Dylan McIlrath
5. G Igor Shesterkin
6. D Ryan Graves
7. G Brandon Halverson
8. C Adam Tambellini
9. G Mackenzie Skapski
10. LW Marek Hrivik
11. C Cristoval Nieves
12. C Steven Fogarty
13. D Tommy Hughes
14. D Petr Zamorsky
15. D Ryan Mantha
16. C Keegan Iverson
17. D Sam Noreau
18. D Calle Andersson
19. LW Ryan Bourque
20. D Troy Donnay
20. D Tyler Nanne
21. C Michael St. Croix
22. RW Josh Nicholls
23. LW Chris McCarthy
24. RW Michael Kantor

* LW Ryan Gropp
* RW Robin Kovacs
* RD Sergey Zborovskiy
* C Aleksi Saarela
* C Brad Morrison
* LW/RW Daniel Bernhardt
* G Adam Huska

# RW Richard Nejezchleb - unknown if he'll be signed.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

We still own the rights to Nej for another year, right? We drafted him last year.