Prospect Info: With the 101st Overall Pick the New York Rangers Select Nico Gross

[Pavel Buchnevich]

New York Rangers 4th Round Pick #101 OA - Nico Gross (LD)

25. Nico Gross - Defense - Oshawa Generals
A tough guy for me to rank because I'm admittedly lower on him than some of my scouting counterparts. I absolutely recognize the fact that the things he does well could potentially translate extremely well to the NHL level. I love the physical edge that he plays with in the defensive end, especially with him being average sized at 6'1. He absolutely loves stepping up on attacking forwards at the blueline and his ability to disrupt zone entries with his skating ability and aggressiveness is impressive. He also flashes great skill as a potential puck rusher who has the ability to go end to end and whose impressive mobility helps him gain the opposition's blueline. But at the end of the day, offensive production is important and his 14 points were only 3 more than William Ennis, who's a stay at home draft eligible teammate. Lots of flash, but how many prime time scoring chances are really created? Does that point to an inability to create through good vision? Just the same, he can be turnover prone in the defensive end (he struggled mightily at the U18's with this), which could be linked similarly to his issues at creating once he gains the zone. Defensively, he's extremely raw. The physicality and mobility are pluses, but he has a tendency to chase the play and can get himself out of position rather easily. So why do I still have Gross at #25? Because I like the raw skill set. As I said, there are definitely things to like. But I would feel a lot more comfortable taking a chance on him in the mid rounds and not the early ones where some scouting agencies seem to have him.

OHL Prospects: My Final Top 50 OHL Players for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft - Part 3: 30-11

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[eco's bones]

Seems like a decent pick to make here.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Fine for where we drafted him.

He's been a name for years, but his stock has somewhat fallen because he hasn't really produced. The offensive upside really just does not seem to be there. Generic, bland player, but maybe he could make the NHL as a 3rd pairing guy. Really prototypical Gorton style player in how he plays the game.

He'll likely play two more WJC's. He's already played two of them, and he's also played three WJC18's.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Kid had mono this year. Same thing Liljegren had in his draft season. It can mess with your game.

 

[Mikos87]

I like this pick, he's already played a year against men, and while the upside is questionable, he's the only guy they didnt reach for and got good value for the slot.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

He’s a solid pick and good value at this spot.

 

[egelband]

I hear there were 10-15 teams determined to draft this beast. Rangers had no choice!

Just kidding.

 

[mike14]

So our scouting staff get hammered for 'reaching' and 'going off the board' a lot of the time when taking players that don't line up with scouting service's draft lists; as Gross was generally ranked between 65-80 does that mean that this pick has to considered a 'steal' as we got him at 101?

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

So our scouting staff get hammered for 'reaching' and 'going off the board' a lot of the time when taking players that don't line up with scouting service's draft lists; as Gross was generally ranked between 65-80 does that mean that this pick has to considered a 'steal' as we got him at 101?

yes, he definitely wasn't a reach, but there were likely 10 or more bigger steals available there.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I posted this yesterday, but it was lost by the disastrous servers.

He was only on loan to Oshawa, so he can play in the AHL or ECHL. But I'd prefer he return to the NLA. Its a good league, and his home country. Let him play 2-3 more years there before bringing him over. I'd prefer he not returns to Oshawa. I want as many of our players playing pro as possible.

While EV Zug announced some changes in their coaching staff yesterday, it is not impossible that there will also be some more changes concerning their roster for the upcoming season. A return of 18-year-old defenseman Nico Gross, who has suited up for the Oshawa Generals in the OHL for the past season and is eligible for this year's NHL Entry Draft, is a possibility, the Luzerner Zeitungwrites.

https://swisshockeynews.ch/index.ph...4-will-defenseman-nico-gross-return-to-ev-zug

 

[Sarge13]

His coach in the OHL, Bob Jones, was a LD man in his day, teamates alongside Adam Foote and Bob Boughner, amongst others in Juniors. Later as a coach worked with young Dmen Marc Staal, Adam Mcquaid and Kevin Klein, amongst others over the years.

Birthdays:

Bob jones 1/13
Marc Staal 1/13
K'Andre Miller 1/13

Whoa....

 

[Edge]

Kid had mono this year. Same thing Liljegren had in his draft season. It can mess with your game.

I tend to agree with the first poster.

Has a lot of good, raw skills but they haven’t yet produced the type of play or consistency one would expect.

Tends to force and rush plays, hasn’t necessarily shown an ability to dictate the pace or see the options he has around him.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Since I focused on OHL d-men this year, I guess I'll double down on my slightly unconventional opinion on Gross as I did with Keane...on the contrary to Keane, I dislike Gross as a d-man and think he should be converted to wing...

17. Nico Gross (Oshawa [OHL] #66, LHS, RD) - Complicated, aggressive defenseman. Gross is a pinball on the rink, it looks like there's a lot going on but really, there isn't much at all. The skating stride is quick and choppy and gives the illusion of very strong mobility, but he's actually a below average transition skater. When forwards change gears even slightly and go wide on him, Gross is left hanging on for dear life. Part of that is him trusting his skating ability too much and gapping up too tightly against the rush. His mobility is not a weakness overall, but - as is the pattern with Gross - the wind-up doesn't net the expected results. Similar scenario with his offensive play. He can outlet, he can skate it, he can even shoot it and keep plays alive at the point but it just never seems to amount to anything. Part of it is the timing of his passes being off and the other part is his willingness to carry it into "useless" ice so often. He can sometimes just pin himself into a corner and then fail. Defensively he is an aggressive style of player who likes to step up and diffuse situations earlier rather than later. Because he lacks a lot of hockey sense, this is a major risk. His understanding of angles and gaps is just not there right now, his stick positioning is poor as well. He does play with a physical edge and he's very annoying to play against. Even subtlely, he's always in the way...back on retrievals, he picks you late or on a line change, he'll "accidentally" get tangled up with you. He has an annoyance quality to him. Considering he doesn't offer a ton to the back line in terms of visionary qualities, a club may want to entertain the idea of moving him to wing.

 Hockey Sense: D+
 Skating speed/power/acc: C+
 Skating lateral/edges/agility: B+
 Vision: C-
 Puck skills: B-
 Shot: B-
 Defense technique: D+
 Defense urgency: B+
 Frame/size: C+
 Ceiling/Risk: Low-Med/High (late round)

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Rangers have yet to sign him to an ELC. Any reason to think they do so?

 

[Ola]

Appreciate it Farkas!

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Rangers have yet to sign him to an ELC. Any reason to think they do so?

Not sure. They have a lot of defensive prospects already.

 

[nyr2k2]

Rangers have yet to sign him to an ELC. Any reason to think they do so?

I don't think he's shown a lot of progress, but he's still an okay prospect. The Rangers have a lot of depth on D but there's still a chance he earns a contract.

 

[cwede]

Rangers have yet to sign him to an ELC. Any reason to think they do so?

I think they should. 2 reasons.
You can never have enough D on AHL. The pack are always using over 10 different guys every year.
And while i saw the comment above that he hasn't "improved" he is coming of 3 fulltime OHL seasons and 4 WJCs. IMHO he has earned a shot.
To me NYR ought to get the ELCs in on Gross and Wall pronto. Both can have NYRs rights expire soon.

 

[Vitto79]

I think they should. 2 reasons.
You can never have enough D on AHL. The pack are always using over 10 different guys every year.
And while i saw the comment above that he hasn't "improved" he is coming of 3 fulltime OHL seasons and 4 WJCs. IMHO he has earned a shot.
To me NYR ought to get the ELCs in on Gross and Wall pronto. Both can have NYRs rights expire soon.

When is the deadline ? Could use both signed for sure the Hartford depth isn’t great imo .... Shesterkin made them look better than they are

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

When is the deadline ? Could use both signed for sure the Hartford depth isn’t great imo .... Shesterkin made them look better than they are

June 1st

 

[cwede]

When is the deadline ? Could use both signed for sure the Hartford depth isn’t great imo ....

June 1 for Gross,
Aug 15 for Wall

 

[eco's bones]

I'm kind of on the fence. I can see Gross at least becoming a fairly decent player at the AHL level--that's if he doesn't go back to Europe. His absolute upside is bottom pairing NHL defenseman and it probably takes him at least 3 years to get there. Between him and Wall I'd sign Wall first. I think Tyler might be better than Huska anyway who so far has been okay at the AHL level but not really looking like NHL goaltender material IMO.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

I’ll be shocked if he gets a deal

I never expected him to get one from the moment they picked him, so no harm no foul

 

[nyr2k2]

He can skate, hit, and shoot. His ability to move the puck is overrated. His physicality is nice but he's terribly undisciplined. He basically cost Oshawa a game and playoff series a couple years back with idiotic penalties late.

He also has 12 points in 13 games on 2 S/G to start, then finished with 21 points in 40 games and 1.45 S/G from then on. It was like Zborovskiy with him, where he comes in older (he was the oldest or second-oldest D on his team, I don't remember) and more experienced and is thrust into a huge role and start producing like he never has before. And then eventually he cedes that role to more effective players and his numbers come back to earth.

Watching him in the WJC for the fifteenth time, he looked the same--pretty okay. If he were Swedish or Finish or Russian or from NA, he wouldn't sniff a roster. Next year for Hartford, you'll have:

Rykov/Hajek (or both, who knows)
Robertson (likely)
Reunanen
Day (maybe in ECHL)
Miller
Raddysh (I think he's a good bet to be back)
LoVerde
Geertsen (also plays F)
Giuttari (maybe ECHL)

So right now you have at least nine guys who will be competing for a spot in Hartford. Even if Raddysh walks they will definitely bring in another veteran. They may bring in another veteran even if Raddysh stays. They always end up with one or two of the ECHL guys shuttling up for some games. There could always be surprises like Smith going down, Crawley or Ebert coming back, Lundkvist signing and changing the picture, etc.

Point is, there's a good amount of competition at D from both young guys and veterans down in Hartford. It will be tough for Gross. I still think they should sign him. I don't particularly like him, but it's worth taking a look.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

He can skate, hit, and shoot. His ability to move the puck is overrated. His physicality is nice but he's terribly undisciplined. He basically cost Oshawa a game and playoff series a couple years back with idiotic penalties late.

He also has 12 points in 13 games on 2 S/G to start, then finished with 21 points in 40 games and 1.45 S/G from then on. It was like Zborovskiy with him, where he comes in older (he was the oldest or second-oldest D on his team, I don't remember) and more experienced and is thrust into a huge role and start producing like he never has before. And then eventually he cedes that role to more effective players and his numbers come back to earth.

Watching him in the WJC for the fifteenth time, he looked the same--pretty okay. If he were Swedish or Finish or Russian or from NA, he wouldn't sniff a roster. Next year for Hartford, you'll have:

Rykov/Hajek (or both, who knows)
Robertson (likely)
Reunanen
Day (maybe in ECHL)
Miller
Raddysh (I think he's a good bet to be back)
LoVerde
Geertsen (also plays F)
Giuttari (maybe ECHL)

So right now you have at least nine guys who will be competing for a spot in Hartford. Even if Raddysh walks they will definitely bring in another veteran. They may bring in another veteran even if Raddysh stays. They always end up with one or two of the ECHL guys shuttling up for some games. There could always be surprises like Smith going down, Crawley or Ebert coming back, Lundkvist signing and changing the picture, etc.

Point is, there's a good amount of competition at D from both young guys and veterans down in Hartford. It will be tough for Gross. I still think they should sign him. I don't particularly like him, but it's worth taking a look.

Isnt Robertson too young for the AHL? He’s only 19