Prospect Info: Rangers ranked #1 by The Athletic

[RangerBoy]

The Rangers check in as the No. 1 farm system in the NHL, thanks for their last two first-round picks – Kaapo Kakko and Vitaly Kravtsov – the progression of goaltender Igor Shesterkin, acquiring Adam Fox and an overall deep pipeline of defensemen. The system has several players who project to become important players for the Rangers, solid overall depth and a potential superstar at the very top.

Prospect Ranking

1. Kaapo Kakko, LW, TPS-Liiga
Feb. 13, 2001 | 6-foot-2 | 190 pounds
Tier: Special/elite bubble
Kakko had a fantastic season in Finland, playing significant minutes in the country’s top league, and showing flashes of dominance versus men in Liiga and at the world championships. Kakko has a ton of skill in his game. He’s got the high-end hands to make plays through defenders and the cute dangles that will make highlight reels. He makes the real tough passes and makes a lot of great decisions, but his creativity is what impressed me most. He improvises very well, with high offensive IQ to know how to create offense versus men. Kakko has good size, and he’s not afraid to lean on guys. He’s not a crash and bang type, but he protects pucks very well, he takes pucks hard to the net and he already showed that he can power his way past pro defensemen as a 17-year-old. His speed is just average for me. He’s not slow, but his skating is not the selling point of his game. Despite average speed, he gets inside to the net so well because of how fearless and strong he is. Kakko could be an impact forward in the NHL, whether at the wing and possibly even at center, and should transition quickly into that role.

2-Kravstov
3-Fox
4-Shesterkin
5-Miller
6-Robertson
7-Keane
8-Jones
9-Lundkvist
10-Hajek

2019 NHL farm system rankings: No. 1 New York Rangers

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[Amazing Kreiderman]

Keane at 7
Barron and Reunanen in the 20s is crazy

 

[kovazub94]

Keane and Jones at #7 and #8! Lol lol lol

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

There's so much wrong with this list. I don't know where to begin.

 

[Irishguy42]

NA bias for sure outside the top top prospects.

But no matter how you rank it, it definitely shows there is definitely work to do at forward once Kravtsov and Kakko graduate.

 

[RangerBoy]

 

[eco's bones]

Keane and Jones are really nice prospects but even so. Reunanen was 12 in our own internal poll and Keane and Jones weren't in the top 15 and IMO our poll is much closer to reality than Pronman's.......but the main thing is Pronman got the big picture right. The Rangers No. 1 at Hockey's Future, Elite Prospects, The Athletic and The Sporting News. The aggregate scores for those 4 sites would go like this:.

1. New York Rangers-4
2. Los Angeles Kings-14
3. Colorado Avalanche-17
4. Montreal Canadiens-21
5. New Jersey Devils-23
6. Vancouver Canucks-24
6. (t) Flyers-24
8. Carolina Hurricanes-30
9. Ottawa Senators-36
10. Detroit Red Wings-43
11. Chicago Blackhawks-47
11. (t) Vegas Golden Knights-47
13. Anaheim Ducks-53
14. New York Islanders-54
15. Edmonton Oilers-55
16. Florida Panthers-59
17. Buffalo Sabres-67
18. Arizona Coyotes-73
19. Toronto Maple Leafs-85
20. Minnesota Wild-86
21. St. Louis Blues-87
22. Nashville Predators-92
23. Dallas Stars-93
24. Winnipeg Jets-94
25. Tampa Bay Lightning-98
26. San Jose Sharks-101
27. Columbus Blue Jackets-102
28. Calgary Flames-105
29. Boston Bruins-111
30. Washington Capitals-119
31. Pittsburgh Penguins-120

I'll note Pittsburgh is the bottom team. They are kind of old and in the next two/three years they are going to tank like nobody's business....and the Caps might not be far behind. As they go down we should be moving up in the division.

 

[RangerBoy]

Pronman isn’t a big Lundkvist guy. He was not high on Lundkvist in his draft year.

 

[RangerBoy]

Keane and Jones are really nice prospects but even so. Reunanen was 12 in our own internal poll and Keane and Jones weren't in the top 15 and IMO our poll is much closer to reality than Pronman's.......but the main thing is Pronman got the big picture right. The Rangers No. 1 at Hockey's Future, Elite Prospects, The Athletic and The Sporting News. The aggregate scores for those 4 sites would go like this:.

1. New York Rangers-4
2. Los Angeles Kings-14
3. Colorado Avalanche-17
4. Montreal Canadiens-21
5. New Jersey Devils-23
6. Vancouver Canucks-24
6. (t) Flyers-24
8. Carolina Hurricanes-30
9. Ottawa Senators-36
10. Detroit Red Wings-43
11. Chicago Blackhawks-47
11. (t) Vegas Golden Knights-47
13. Anaheim Ducks-53
14. New York Islanders-54
15. Edmonton Oilers-55
16. Florida Panthers-59
17. Buffalo Sabres-67
18. Arizona Coyotes-73
19. Toronto Maple Leafs-85
20. Minnesota Wild-86
21. St. Louis Blues-87
22. Nashville Predators-92
23. Dallas Stars-93
24. Winnipeg Jets-94
25. Tampa Bay Lightning-98
26. San Jose Sharks-101
27. Columbus Blue Jackets-102
28. Calgary Flames-105
29. Boston Bruins-111
30. Washington Capitals-119
31. Pittsburgh Penguins-120

I'll note Pittsburgh is the bottom team. They are kind of old and in the next two/three years they are going to tank like nobody's business....and the Caps might not be far behind. As they go down we should be moving up in the division.

Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Ovie, Backstrom are all in their early to mid 30’s. The Rangers play their cards right and don’t make any dumb mistakes, the Rangers should be the best team in their division for a while with Kakko leading the way.

 

[Vitto79]

I hope Jones and Keane are this good !

 

[Trxjw]

Never been a big Pronman guy, but he certainly sticks to his opinions. Nice to see the Rangers at the top on another list, however. Tremendous credit due to the front office for rebuilding the prospect pool so quickly.

Still don't mind the fact that the pool is heavy on defensemen. Great defensemen are harder to find and I'm confident we can move bodies for a young forward if necessary.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Pronman isn’t a big Lundkvist guy. He was not high on Lundkvist in his draft year.

And once he has made up his mind, he isn't changing. It is what it is. Like Button, he doesn't not watch enough EU and it shows. Having Jones and Keane ahead of Lundkvist is ridiculous. And I am a big fan of Jones

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

There's so much wrong with this list. I don't know where to begin.

Rykov at 18 (behind Day at 16!) based on what read essentially as stat surfing was... interesting.

 

[Mac n Gs]

I do think we are slightly underrating Keane in our rankings, and it's understandable with his usage with London limited him a bit. I don't have much extra to say on Jones since I've only seen him a few times, but I am really intrigued to see how he can translate that dynamic skillset against more structured competition. I think he'll do well, but I'm expecting some early struggles before he figures it out.

I don't really disagree with how he slotted the top-10, but it does get pretty wonky a bit after that for the obvious reasons.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Rykov at 18 (behind Day at 16!) based on what read essentially as stat surfing was... interesting.

Keane and Jones ahead of Lundkvist is crazy
Day ahead of Rykov and Reunanen is mind boggling

 

[eco's bones]

Rykov at 18 (behind Day at 16!) based on what read essentially as stat surfing was... interesting.

I really don't get the Sean Day love. He's way down my list of prospects. Yes he's big and he skates and handles the puck real well but he's not nearly on the level of Rykov, Hajek, Lindgren, Reunanen, Robertson as left side defensemen. I really don't see how he fits into our future. He's always kind of underwhelmed as an offensive D--despite his size he's never been physical and his defending has always been his biggest weakness. Personally I'd easily take Zac Jones, Sjalin and Ragnarsson over him too.

 

[Inferno]

And once he has made up his mind, he isn't changing. It is what it is. Like Button, he doesn't not watch enough EU and it shows. Having Jones and Keane ahead of Lundkvist is ridiculous. And I am a big fan of Jones

The problem is..how is 1 guy going to accurately scout and rank every too 20 prospect for every team and then further rank every team based on each teams individual depth.

Even if it's your full time job and you watch 8 games a day 7 days a week i just don't see 1 guy being able to do that accurately. You need a team.. at least 3 guys working for you imho...1 for overseas 1 for juniors 1 for everything else (NCAA, b leagues, etc)

1 guy isn't going to cut it
That why a guy like p.b. who claimed to know every prospect and have a draft tboard that's 500 deep...

I think having a board that's 50 or 60 deep is 1 thing... But pronman is doing what .. 20 guys for 31 teams or something.... 620 players....I don't think it's realistic.

For what he's got to work with I think he did a fine job ..but most of it is based off of watching a guy maybe once in grainy video.. or off of what other people are saying

 

[kovazub94]

Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Ovie, Backstrom are all in their early to mid 30’s. The Rangers play their cards right and don’t make any dumb mistakes, the Rangers should be the best team in their division for a while with Kakko leading the way.

Somewhat broader point based on @eco's bones analysis is that bottom 3 teams in the prospects pool is in the Rangers division. This would support your assertion. However the other 3 teams from the division are in top-10 which points to an upcoming switch in division power so it’s not like the Rangers will be without competition. Finally, these lists are very fluid, meaning if done right, a team could easily move from the bottom to the top of the list in two-three years. Of course if they have execs that are not total f***-ups.

 

[Crease]

Day will forever be the guy who got exceptional status by the OHL.

 

[eco's bones]

Somewhat broader point based on @eco's bones analysis is that bottom 3 teams in the prospects pool is in the Rangers division. This would support your assertion. However the other 3 teams from the division are in top-10 which points to an upcoming switch in division power so it’s not like the Rangers will be without competition. Finally, these lists are very fluid, meaning if done right, a team could easily move from the bottom to the top of the list in two-three years. Of course if they have execs that are not total ****-ups.

Pittsburgh is old--Malkin-33, Crosby-32, Letang-32, Hornqvist-32, Johnson-32. The latter two aren't very trade-able. Moving any of Malkin, Crosby or Letang who are their best players for youth is tantamount to throwing in the towel and Rutherford IMO is not really a very good GM. He's not going to try. He's also going to have to lean on them more and more because they really don't have enough offensive depth to give them a break and here the Kessel deal will hurt.

His 25 and under team--Guentzel-24, Galchenyuk-25, McCann-23, Aston-Reese-25, Kahun-24, Blueger-25, Simon-25 at forward--Pettersson-23 on defense and Murray-25 in goal--not a lot in the AHL. As far as quality prospects--Poulin and Hallander at forward, Joseph and Addison on defense and maybe Jarry in goal and that's about where it ends as far as anything worthwhile. It's debatable whether Guentzel is a 1st line wing if he's not playing with an elite center. Galchenyuk is a career underachiever and the rest of their 25 and under forward group are bottom 6 players. I don't see Poulin and Hallander becoming real difference makers--2nd liners at best. At best Joseph and Addison will become 2nd pairing D. Right now they don't have a 2nd rounder next year and if Rutherford tries to go for it again (which wouldn't surprise me at all) he'll probably move the 1st. They're really not set up for the future at all and the more Rutherford tries to string it out the worst their future will become. IMO they don't have a lot of worthwhile assets they can move and it's a matter of time before they completely collapse.

 

[Kovalev27]

Imagine if Lias Andersson was considered anything special by any scouting service we basically busted with our first pick of the rebuild and we still have the top prospect pool in the league. Amazing really

 

[nyr2k2]

I like Jones a lot, and he's too high. Keane, that's a joke having him up there.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Imagine if Lias Andersson was considered anything special by any scouting service we basically busted with our first pick of the rebuild and we still have the top prospect pool in the league. Amazing really

You talk as if he wasn't ranked in the first round at all.

 

[Inferno]

Keane and Jones are really nice prospects but even so. Reunanen was 12 in our own internal poll and Keane and Jones weren't in the top 15 and IMO our poll is much closer to reality than Pronman's.......but the main thing is Pronman got the big picture right. The Rangers No. 1 at Hockey's Future, Elite Prospects, The Athletic and The Sporting News. The aggregate scores for those 4 sites would go like this:.

1. New York Rangers-4
2. Los Angeles Kings-14
3. Colorado Avalanche-17
4. Montreal Canadiens-21
5. New Jersey Devils-23
6. Vancouver Canucks-24
6. (t) Flyers-24
8. Carolina Hurricanes-30
9. Ottawa Senators-36
10. Detroit Red Wings-43
11. Chicago Blackhawks-47
11. (t) Vegas Golden Knights-47
13. Anaheim Ducks-53
14. New York Islanders-54
15. Edmonton Oilers-55
16. Florida Panthers-59
17. Buffalo Sabres-67
18. Arizona Coyotes-73
19. Toronto Maple Leafs-85
20. Minnesota Wild-86
21. St. Louis Blues-87
22. Nashville Predators-92
23. Dallas Stars-93
24. Winnipeg Jets-94
25. Tampa Bay Lightning-98
26. San Jose Sharks-101
27. Columbus Blue Jackets-102
28. Calgary Flames-105
29. Boston Bruins-111
30. Washington Capitals-119
31. Pittsburgh Penguins-120

I'll note Pittsburgh is the bottom team. They are kind of old and in the next two/three years they are going to tank like nobody's business....and the Caps might not be far behind. As they go down we should be moving up in the division.

Where's the elite prospects one? Can't seem to find it

 

[Kovalev27]

You talk as if he wasn't ranked in the first round at all.

I’m still not sure why he was