After what many described as an underwhelming first-round in last night's Nhl Entry Draft, Rangers' General Manager Jeff Gorton sought to improve his draft grade and his team's farm system in Rounds two through seven today.
First a quick recap
What began as a quiet day when most people woke up to go to work, quickly became chaotic.News broke shortly after 10 AM that fan favorite center Derek Stepan and back-up netminder Antti Raanta were rumored to be part of a trade to Arizona for the 7th overall pick and a defenseman.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, although it was actually just a few minutes, news broke that the trade was indeed happening.
Just like that, the core of the Blueshirts was further ripped apart. Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta were desert-bound, while the 7th overall selection in the first-round of the draft, and young 21-year old defenseman Anthony DeAngelo were on their way to Broadway.
After digesting that, fans began to look forward towards having not one, but two first-round selections, especially as the team hadn't had a single first-round pick since 2012 (Brady Skjei), thanks to their constant trading of picks for players during the mid-season trade-deadline.
Of course, not all is as it seemed. Rumor began to swirl that Gorton was shopping the picks in order to further move up in the first-round. Reliable sources from the draft floor broke word that Gorton had offered his Dallas counterpart Jim Nill, the 7th and 21st overall picks, plus defenseman Marc Staal for the 3rd overall pick.
While many fans were surely stunned at this news, a potential selection of Cale Makar (defenseman) would have justified the swap. Dallas however, decided to keep the pick, after much deliberation and selected Miro Heiskanen (defenseman).
New York would then go on to select Lias Andersson with the 7th overall pick, a center from HV 71 in the Swedish league.
Lias' uncle, Mikael, played 15 seasons in the NHL, including, with the Rangers' rivals, the New York Islanders.
With the 21st pick, Gorton and Co. selected little-known Czech Republic center Filip Chytil.
Heading into day two
Heading into day two, the focus would be on their weakened blue line.
- The Blueshirts did not have a second-round pick thanks to a trade with Carolina.
- A trade with Detroit resulted in the Rangers giving up the 83rd overall selection.
- In the fourth-round, the Rangers traded the 102nd overall pick to San Jose for a later pick in the round.
An active draft day became even more so, thanks to another trade with Colorado, as the Blueshirts gave up the 114th overall pick for a later selection.
Thanks to their trade with San Jose, the Blueshirts then had the 123rd selection at the end of the fourth-round. With the pick, they selected defenseman Brandon Crawley out of the OHL.
A 6-1, 203LBS. defenseman, Crawley is a value pick at the end of the fourth-round and should see NHL time relatively soon. A late-season debut would make the most sense.
With the 145th overall pick (5th round), New York continued to stockpile blue line talent with the selection of Calle Sjalin, a defenseman from Sweden. At 6-1, 179LBS, Sjalin could stand to fill out more, but his fleet of foot skills and excellent puck-moving abilities should enable him to rise through the minors fairly quickly. Another value pick and Gorton is quickly redeeming himself from his first-round moves.
Into the 6th round, with the 157th overall pick -- acquired from Vancouver -- Gorton selected Dominik Lakatos, a center out of Czech Republic. Standing at 6-0, 178LBS, the 20-year old is out of the Czech pro-league and has good peripherals.
Later in the 6th round, with the 174th overall pick, the Rangers selected Morgan Barron, a Canadian-born center, thanks to a trade with San Jose. At 6-2, 200LBS, Barron needs to fill out a little more before attempting to move up to the NHL.
A trade to Nashville gave up the 176th overall pick towards the end of the 6th round.
The final pick in the draft
With their final pick in the draft, the Rangers used the 207th overall slot (7th round) to take Finnish center Patrik Virta.
At 5-9, 180LBS, Virta is one of the smaller picks for the Blueshirts in this year's draft, but his numbers out of Finland look good. With TPS in Liiga last season, Virta produced 14 goals, 12 assists (26 points), in 49 games. He would finish his year in the postseason where he had five goals, one assist (six points), in six playoff games.
That concludes the 2017 NHL Entry Draft for the Rangers. Overall I'd give Gorton a solid "B". His all over the map approach left many people confused, but there is no denying the Rangers got some solid value with their later round picks.
In other news, The Rangers hired veteran coach Lindy Ruff, formerly the Dallas Stars head coach, as their new Assistant Coach. In a corresponding move, the Rangers ousted Jeff Beukeboom from his role as assistant coach and will re-assign him within the organization.
Next up is Free Agency, which begins July 1st.
