Prospect Info: Rangers Prospect Thread (Player Stats/Info in Post #1; Updated 5.12.20)

[Blue Blooded]

Olof Lindbom moves to Färjestad in the SHL for the remainder of the season.

Här är målvakten som är redo att hjälpa Färjestad i ****spelet

LMAO @ the autocensor of "S1utspelet" ("the playoffs" in Swedish).

 

[Blue Blooded]

The reason behind K'Andre's dominance at the bottom line in these perspectives is his ability to play a high defensive game. And I think its important to acknowledge that because it goes both ways.

For a long time, up until the later parts of the 90's, you kind of played a defensive game that could be described as pressure with support. I.e. the Ds stepped up while they had support from forwards skating hard to be able to cover behind the D after he had stepped up on his player. Go back to 1995 or even 2005 and every other D in the NHL didn't have "gap control" in their tool box. A Garnet Excelby didn't have an underwhelming gap control, he never tried to maintain an appropriate gap at all. Instead those D's backed down without maintaining a gap, and the forwards steered the puck out towards the boards, and the Ds stepped up on them and took the body.

But after 05' the scale tipped and skilled forwards was able to zig-zag through the pressure in the neutral zone with the crackdown on slashing, hooking and those type of plays. Michael Nylander and co killed those type of Ds.

That gave birth to the gap control strategy. You couldn't risk stepping up on Michael Nylander and co in the neutral zone, so you started to skate with them instead. Gap control is really about not giving the forward enough space to fire the puck cleanly off the rush while back down with him. Skating forward is faster than skating backwards so the D must on one side "cheat" enough to get a head start, and on the other side time the forward so that he is close enough when you come into shooting range.

In the way the game is played today, when every D more or less constantly is skating into the lap of their goalies surrounding the defensive blue-line -- having Ds that can step up high and win puck battles not deep in your own end, but in the neutral zone, is a great weapon. Teams aren't prepared for it, and is instantly a great position to turn the play from. In the NHL Drew Doughty has been the best at playing a high defense AINEC. His timing and lateral movement makes him almost unique, and being able to create offense of his high defense was instrumental to all LAK's Cup wins. They could afford to be more conservative in many areas than the competition, but still get great scoring chances since Doughty could eat up forwards at the red-line instead of backing down into the lap of his goalie and then head into the corner to chase a rebound.

K'Andree Miller is really good at stepping up high in those situations too, and can be downright dominant in games against his peers due to it. But I think that many fail to put into context Miller getting beaten defensively in those situations, which of course will happen form time to time, and like a D getting beaten cleanly trying to maintain a gap control while skating into the lap of his goalie. First of all, the last mentioned play is designed to be unfailable if the D can skate well enough, the first mentioned is tremendously hard to make. 50/50 at best. Second of all, when a D steps up, its the forwards job to cover behind him. A forward backchecking that is allowed to skate back in a straight lane should just be able to beat an attacking forward that is heading up ice but have to skate around a K'Andre Miller coming at him. I've several times seen Miller get walked in those situation and people go OMG Miller was beaten cleanly, while the support he got from the players was a lot more questionable than his play. Thirdly, its of course essential for a D to value when to make those plays, and getting the right 'most of the time' is just about anything you can ask of a young D.

Lastly, and sorry for the long post, I also think it is essential to be patient with Miller to afford him to take this game with him to the NHL level. If we had rushed him he would have had to cut those elements from his game and solely base his defense on backing down into the lap of the goalie, just to survive. I want him over mature when he hits the ice in the AHL.

This is Brendan Smith's primary skill as a defenceman and maybe the primary reason he has seen his career derailed as a member of the NYR.

Allegedly Lindy Ruff (and/or David Quinn) does not want his defencemen doing this at all. According to the numbers, Smith has still been doing it (and being the only Ranger defenceman doing it) and doing it successfully - but I can see him getting tons of flak from the staff for the times he does get burned since you have explicit instructions from the coach not to ever get burned like that.

The NY Rangers defense system is to give up the blue line, and it's by design

 

[Blue Blooded]

The Ruff Effect in action:

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

LMAO @ the autocensor of "S1utspelet" ("the playoffs" in Swedish).

This will make you laugh then, a Dutch airport sign. "U kunt" means "You can"

 

[Ola]

This is Brendan Smith's primary skill as a defenceman and maybe the primary reason he has seen his career derailed as a member of the NYR.

Allegedly Lindy Ruff (and/or David Quinn) does not want his defencemen doing this at all. According to the numbers, Smith has still been doing it (and being the only Ranger defenceman doing it) and doing it successfully - but I can see him getting tons of flak from the staff for the times he does get burned since you have explicit instructions from the coach not to ever get burned like that.

The NY Rangers defense system is to give up the blue line, and it's by design

View attachment 319695

The Ruff Effect in action:
View attachment 319701
View attachment 319699

GREAT stuff.

I've been saying this for a while. Its certainly by design and I've commented on it at the trade board at times. Many are comparing player's ability to defend against entries by looking at stats, and maybe that is possible looking at relative numbers within a team or something, but its certainly not possible to compare like Skjei here in NY with a D on a team that by design have their Ds step up more.

Ultimately its really an issue how you handle your forwards. A defender cannot step up if it is a 2 on 2 but it is possible if its a 3 on 3 (in essence a 2 on 2 with forward back-checking along with an attacker joining the rush).

I've never played defense but this is basically the most fundamental communication between defenders, you must be on board if you are handling a play like its 2 on 2 or if you have support from a forward. When the forward support is there you can step up, when its not you must back down.

 

[Ola]

Olof Lindbom moves to Färjestad in the SHL for the remainder of the season.

Här är målvakten som är redo att hjälpa Färjestad i ****spelet

Cool. He will join them when Mora is done for the year and is eligble for the POs by this move. But it looks like he will be the 3rd string and that its a safety precaution.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Cool. He will join them when Mora is done for the year and is eligble for the POs by this move. But it looks like he will be the 3rd string and that its a safety precaution.

Yes. In case of injury. Still nice that a team he has no previous connections to is reaching out to him

 

[Harbour Dog]

The Ruff Effect in action:
View attachment 319701
View attachment 319699

Maybe it's a fine system that can work, but that difference is disgusting to look at for me.

 

[Ghost of jas]

So, what kind of timeline are we looking at for Pajuniemi?

 

[cwede]

Prob not next year.
He has another contract year, although he could get out of it, there is a transfer agreement.
Wouldn't mind if NYR could do like Henriksson and give him the time at Traverse City.
They could sign him for next season, but then loan him back to Finland (as with Reunanen) with or without TC
So i dont expect him in Hartford til fall'21. Tho i will be glad to be wrong, if NYR decide thats best.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

So, what kind of timeline are we looking at for Pajuniemi?

2020-21: Liiga
2021-22: AHL
2022-23: NHL

The Jesper Fast trajectory age wise

 

[Harbour Dog]

Have we heard anything about Pajuniemi's injury?

@Ola 's description made it sound pretty brutal.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Have we heard anything about Pajuniemi's injury?

@Ola 's description made it sound pretty brutal.

Nothing yet. Both TPS and Leijonat (nation team) said he's being monitored day to day, but that's all we know for now.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Aaltonen with two A1 today

 

[Ola]

Rough game for Lindbom. He relieved Wallin that started after 3-0 pretty early in the first and the game ended 9-3.

 

[nyr2k2]

Sjalin had two assists, which were his first point in either Allsvenskan or the SHL this year.

Lindbum gave up six goals on 25 shots. He didn't even get the loss as he came in in "relief" of Wallin who stopped just 7/10.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

Sjalin had two assists, which were his first point in either Allsvenskan or the SHL this year.

Lindbum gave up six goals on 25 shots. He didn't even get the loss as he came in in "relief" of Wallin who stopped just 7/10.

Mora is a bad team, yet a mid table 2nd division team that got smoked by a team that will have to fight to stay up.

Easy to put it on the team(and I’ve seen it where it’s easy to do so with Mora) but that’s just zero battle.

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

NEW YORK RANGERS PROSPECT INFORMATION
$ PLAYER SIGNED TO NHL CONTRACT | $ SIGNED TO AHL CONTRACT
C TEAM CAPTAIN - A ALTERNATE CAPTAIN
⚕ PLAYER CURRENTLY INJURED/UNABLE TO PLAY
​

*

NORTH AMERICAN JUNIOR PROSPECTS -- OHL, QMJHL, USHL, WHL, Others​
# ​	Player ​	Pos.​	Sh.​	DOB ​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	G​	A​	P​	+/-​	PIM​	SOG​	Team/League ​	Acquired​
66	Gross, Nico A	D	L	01/26/2000	6'2"	179	41	9	14	23	+5	52	72	Oshawa Generals/OHL	Drafted R4 #101 2018
							3	1	0	1	-1	2	7	Switzerland U20/International
22	Robertson, Matthew $ A	D	L	03/09/2001	6'4"	198	48	11	24	35	-4	46	141	Edmonton Oil Kings/WHL	Drafted R2 #49 2019
83	Skinner, Hunter	D	R	04/29/2001	6'2"	187	50	5	25	30	+26	43	107	London Knights/OHL	Drafted R4 #112 2019

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

*

UNITED STATES COLLEGE PROSPECTS -- NCAA​
#​	Player ​	Pos.​	Sh.​	Yr.​	DOB​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	G​	A​	P​	+/-​	PIM​	SOG​	Team/Conference ​	Acquired​
27	Barron, Morgan C	F	L	Jr.	12/02/1998	6'3"	214	23	11	14	25	+14	22	83	Cornell Big Red/ECAC	Drafted R6 #174 2017
9	Ciccolini, Eric	RW	R	Fr.	01/14/2001	6'0"	170	26	1	10	11	-4	6	28	Michigan Wolverines/Big Ten	Drafted R7 #205 2019
19	Hughes, Riley	RW	R	Fr.	06/27/2000	6'2"	175	25	1	1	2	-7	21	20	Northeastern Huskies/Hockey East	Drafted R7 #216 2018
24	Jones, Zac	D	L	Fr.	10/18/2000	5'10"	176	27	3	15	18	+11	22	68	UMass Minutemen/Hockey East	Drafted R3 #68 2019
								9	1	4	5	-2	2	24	United States U20/International
2	Kjellberg, Simon	D	L	Fr.	02/17/2000	6'3"	190	26	4	6	10	-1	24	47	RPI Engineers/ECAC	Drafted R6 #163 2018
								3	0	0	0	-2	4	0	Sweden U20/International
19	Miller, K'Andre	D	L	So.	01/21/2000	6'4"	205	28	7	8	15	-8	20	68	Wisconsin Badgers/Big Ten	Drafted R1 #22 2018
								10	1	4	5	E	3	20	United States U20/International
2	Nanne, Tyler C	D/F	R	Sr.	03/17/1996	5'11"	185	27	3	9	12	+6	2	52	Minnesota Golden Gophers/Big Ten	Drafted R5 #142 2014

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

#​

Player​

Pos.​

Gl.​

Yr.​

DOB​

Ht.​

Wt.​

GP​

W​

L​

T​

GAA​

SV%​

SO​

Team/Conference​

Acquired​

33

Wall, Tyler

G

L

Sr.

01/14/1998

6'3"

215

25

15

5

5

2.09

.932

2

UMass-Lowell River Hawks/Hockey East

Drafted R6 #174 2016

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

*

INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTS -- KHL, Liiga, SHL, Others​
#​	Player​	Pos.​	Sh.​	DOB​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	G​	A​	P​	+/-​	PIM​	SOG​	Team/League​	Acquired​
10	Aaltonen, Leevi	F	L	01/24/2001	5'9"	168	34	1	5	6	-11	6	--	KalPa/Liiga	Drafted R5 #130 2019
							3	2	2	4	+2	0	--	IPK/Mestis
							1	0	0	0	-2	0	--	KalPa U20/Nuorten SM-liiga
							5	1	3	4	+1	2	15	Finland U20/International
34	Edström, Adam	F	L	10/12/2000	6'5"	204	35	3	4	7	-4	14	35	Rögle BK/SHL	Drafted R6 #161 2019
							3	1	0	1	+2	2	4	Sweden U20/International
21	Henriksson, Karl	C	L	02/05/2001	5'9"	174	6	0	1	1	-1	0	3	Frölunda HC/SHL	Drafted R2 #58 2019
							2	0	1	1	+1	0	1	Frölunda HC/Champions League
							15	0	1	1	-3	10	7	Södertälje SK/HockeyAllsvenskan
							4	0	7	7	+4	2	6	Frölunda HC J20/J20 SuperElit Top 10
							17	5	18	23	+13	6	33	Frölunda HC J20/J20 SuperElit
							15	1	4	5	E	2	9	Sweden U20/International
27	Lundkvist, Nils	D	R	07/27/2000	5'11"	174	33	6	18	24	+17	24	66	Luleå HF/SHL	Drafted R1 #28 2018
							12	2	9	11	+4	6	23	Luleå HF/Champions League
							3	0	1	1	+3	2	1	Sweden/International
							11	1	8	9	+4	4	17	Sweden U20/International
48	Pajuniemi, Lauri ⚕	RW	R	09/12/1999	6'0"	183	42	23	12	35	-6	6	--	HC TPS/Liiga	Drafted R5 #132 2018
							4	1	1	2	-1	6	--	HC TPS/Spengler Cup
							2	0	0	0	-1	0	0	Finland/International
11	Ragnarsson, Jacob	D	L	09/23/1999	6'0"	176	23	1	8	9	+7	33	14	Timrå IK/HockeyAllsvenskan	Drafted R3 #70 2018
							1	0	0	0	E	0	0	Rögle BK/SHL
11	Reunanen, Tarmo $ EAC	D	L	03/01/1998	6'0"	188	40	2	11	13	+8	26	--	Rauman Lukko/Liiga	Drafted R4 #98 2016
							2	0	0	0	+1	0	0	Finland/International
51	Själin, Calle LOAN	D	L	09/02/1999	6'1"	179	16	0	2	2	-7	4	28	VIK Västerås HK/HockeyAllsvenskan	Drafted R5 #145 2017
							13	0	0	0	-10	2	8	Leksands IF/SHL
							3	0	1	1	+1	0	3	Leksands IF/Škoda Trophy
							3	2	0	2	+4	2	12	Leksands IF J20/J20 SuperElit

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

#​	Player​	Pos.​	Gl.​	DOB​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	W​	L​	OTL​	GAA​	SV%​	SO​	Team/League​	Acquired​
30	Lindbom, Olof	G	L	07/23/2000	6'2"	183	16	6	8	0	3.01	.893	0	Mora IK/HockeyAllsvenskan	Drafted R2 #39 2018
							2	1	1	0	2.54	.917	0	Mora IK/SCA-Cupen
							1	0	1	0	5.19	.833	0	Mora IK J20/J20 SuperElit Fortsättnings
							1	0	1	0	4.50	.870	0	Sweden U20/International

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

*

NORTH AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS -- AHL, ECHL, NHL​
#​	Player​	Pos.​	Sh.​	DOB ​	Ht.​	Wt. ​	GP​	G​	A​	P​	+/-​	PIM​	SOG​	Team/League ​	Acquired​
14	Crawley, Brandon $	D	L	02/02/1997	6'1"	205								Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R4 #123 2017
							38	2	10	12	-3	36	54	Maine Mariners/ECHL
20	Day, Sean $	D	L	01/09/1998	6'2"	227	31	5	9	14	+7	25	62	Maine Mariners/ECHL	Drafted R3 #81 2016
							16	1	3	4	-1	13	21	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL
59	Elmer, Jake $	RW	R	12/31/1998	6'1"	190	1	0	0	0	E	2	0	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Signed as UDFA 2019
							32	12	11	23	+4	26	70	Maine Mariners/ECHL
37	Fontaine, Gabriel $ ⚕	F	L	04/30/1997	6'1"	203	13	1	2	3	+2	4	25	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R6 #171 2016
23	Fox, Adam $	D	R	02/17/1998	5'11"	181	55	6	23	29	+12	20	100	New York Rangers/NHL	Trade with CAR 2019
26	Gettinger, Tim $	LW	L	04/14/1998	6'6"	218	44	11	10	21	+6	12	85	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R5 #141 2016
							2	0	1	1	+1	0	3	New York Rangers/NHL
11	Gropp, Ryan $	LW	L	09/16/1996	6'3"	187	24	3	5	8	+3	4	25	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R2 #41 2015
							10	3	4	7	+4	6	24	Maine Mariners/ECHL
25	Hájek, Libor $	D	L	02/04/1998	6'2"	203	10	0	2	2	-4	10	19	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Trade with TBL 2018
							28	0	5	5	-4	12	23	New York Rangers/NHL
24	Kakko, Kaapo $	RW	L	02/13/2001	6'3"	199	51	8	11	19	-19	14	86	New York Rangers/NHL	Drafted R1 #2 2019
4	Keane, Joey $	D	R	07/02/1999	6'0"	187	47	8	20	28	-3	28	62	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R3 #88 2018
91	Kravtsov, Vitali $	RW	L	12/23/1999	6'3"	189	26	4	6	10	+1	2	40	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R1 #9 2018
							11	2	1	3	-4	2	17	Traktor Chelyabinsk/KHL
							3	0	2	2	E	0	8	Chelmet Chelyabinsk/VHL
19	Leedahl, Dawson $ ⚕	LW	L	03/19/1996	6'2"	200	2	0	0	0	-2	0	2	Maine Mariners/ECHL	Signed as UDFA 2017
95	Lettieri, Vinni $	F	R	02/06/1995	5'11"	185	49	21	18	39	-1	24	153	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Signed as UDFA 2017
55	Lindgren, Ryan $	D	L	02/11/1998	6'0"	191	45	1	9	10	+8	37	32	New York Rangers/NHL	Trade with BOS 2018
							9	1	1	2	+8	6	8	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL
13	Newell, Patrick $	F	L	01/18/1996	5'10"	170	44	6	5	11	E	2	58	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Signed as UDFA 2019
24	Raddysh, Darren $	D	R	02/28/1996	6'1"	200	49	6	16	22	+23	31	77	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Trade with CHI 2019
7	Ronning, Ty $	RW	R	10/20/1997	5'9"	178	10	0	0	0	-1	4	12	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R7 #201 2016
							28	11	13	24	+6	20	77	Maine Mariners/ECHL
57	Rykov, Yegor $	D	L	04/14/1997	6'2"	210	24	2	8	10	-8	6	21	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Trade with NJD 2018

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

#​	Player​	Pos.​	Gl.​	DOB​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	W​	L​	OTL​	GAA​	SV%​	SO​	Team/League​	Acquired​
35	Húska, Adam $	G	L	05/12/1997	6'4"	218	23	10	6	5	3.16	.892	0	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Drafted R7 #184 2015
							2	1	1	0	1.53	.958	0	Maine Mariners/ECHL
31	Shesterkin, Igor $	G	L	12/30/1995	6'2"	182	7	6	1	0	2.18	.941	0	New York Rangers/NHL	Drafted R4 #118 2014
							25	17	4	3	1.90	.934	3	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

*

HARTFORD PROSPECTS -- AHL, ECHL (NOT PROPERTY OF RANGERS) ​
#​	Player​	Pos.​	Sh.​	DOB ​	Ht.​	Wt.​	GP​	G​	A​	P​	+/-​	PIM​	SOG​	Team/League ​	Acquired​
16	Dmowski, Ryan $	LW	L	03/18/1997	6'0"	218	18	2	1	3	E	0	35	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Signed as UDFA 2019
							12	3	4	7	+2	14	30	Maine Mariners/ECHL
8	Jones, Nick $	F	R	06/02/1996	5'11"	189	48	6	9	15	-6	16	48	Hartford Wolf Pack/AHL	Signed as UDFA 2019

[THEAD] [/THEAD]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

​

Not a lot of pleasant surprises besides maybe Pajuniemi, Wall, and Barron. Our drafting staff/strategies need to be improved.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Not a lot of pleasant surprises besides maybe Pajuniemi, Wall, and Barron. Our drafting staff/strategies need to be improved.

Shhh

 

[Harbour Dog]

Not a lot of pleasant surprises besides maybe Pajuniemi, Wall, and Barron. Our drafting staff/strategies need to be improved.

Reunanen, Shesty, Lundkvist, Miller, and Zac Jones have all improved their stock since they were drafted as well.

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

Reunanen, Shesty, Lundkvist, Miller, and Zac Jones have all improved their stock since they were drafted as well.

I am not really counting Shesty and Lundkvist, obviously they have been good. Lundkvist was a smallish Dman taken in the 1st round, his offensive production is justifying him being taken in the 1st, but yes it is a bit surprisingly good although his ppg is starting to drop in the 2nd half.

Reunanan and Miller are having worse seasons this season than prior and Reunanen wasn't able to stick in AHL. Jones was a high 3rd rounder, his performance is about in line with what was expected of him.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I am not really counting Shesty and Lundkvist, obviously they have been good. Lundkvist was a smallish Dman taken in the 1st round, his offensive production is justifying him being taken in the 1st, but yes it is a bit surprisingly good although his ppg is starting to drop in the 2nd half.

His P/GP has gone from .75 to .72. Technically that's a drop but I wouldn't really say it's a drop relevant enough to call it that. It fluctuates between .7 and .8

 

[nyr2k2]

I am not really counting Shesty and Lundkvist, obviously they have been good. Lundkvist was a smallish Dman taken in the 1st round, his offensive production is justifying him being taken in the 1st, but yes it is a bit surprisingly good although his ppg is starting to drop in the 2nd half.

Reunanan and Miller are having worse seasons this season than prior and Reunanen wasn't able to stick in AHL. Jones was a high 3rd rounder, his performance is about in line with what was expected of him.

Jones is having a great year and played a big role on his WJC team. Not sure you'd expect any of what he's doing out of a 3rd.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Jones is having a great year and played a big role on his WJC team. Not sure you'd expect any of what he's doing out of a 3rd.

Jones is performing like a late 1st rounder, not the 3rd rounder he is. He has really exceeded expectations

 

[nyr2k2]

Even if you just want to look at later picks, a guy like Hunter Skinner has put himself on the map. He has had some dominant games and has an intriguing blend of size and skill. He's putting it together. Ciccolini is having a nice Freshman season, particularly for a guy coming out of Junior A into the Big Ten. Even Kjellberg who looked like a turd on skates in the USHL last year is having a good first year. Went from a nothing to something at least worth following.

Edstrom was expected to be in the J20 this year, and not only made the SHL team but forced his way from fourth line and occasional spare to the third line where he's actually contributing. Aaltonen had a rough start but has picked it up since his Mestis spell. He's so skilled, just really raw.

There's plenty to be optimistic about. The Athletic just said we had the fourth-best system despite not considering the guys in the pros. I know with Andersson and to an extent Kravtsov, it kind of feels like things are disappointing, but beyond them I am not really disappointed in anything. Henriksson, I wanted to see more production from him, but his play apparently exceeds his production and now he's won a spot back in the SHL, playing ahead of Lucas Raymond, even. And Miller, in, a vacuum, seems like he's having a down year, but it's impossible to evaluate his season without the context of his dreadful team that's probably going to get Granato fired.

I think we're doing really well.