Rangers Pick McIlrath

The Rangers just spent the 10th overall pick in the draft on a thug who can't skate and has no hockey skill. These are the kind of guys you take late. With the 10th pick you take the players the thug, should he ever make it to the NHL, is supposed to protect. Looks like a disaster from this perspective. Thug's name is Dylan McIlrath. Unbelievable. They need to get more picks. Do better, Rangers.


UPDATE: As so often, when we do a little more research things make a little more sense. For example, since I blasted the Rangers above, I learned that Dylan didn't start playing hockey fulltime till he was 15. He's 17 now. And the reason he didn't play more hockey was that until he was 15 he was splitting time with volleyball. So what we have is not some kid who's been living a normal hockey life and is just a lousy skater. We're looking at a player who went from a -22 as a 16 year old to a +20 as a 17 year old, with the same team. That's pretty impressive development given his backstory. He's also shown a 92 mph slap shot that was good for second in an all-star skills competition.


In all, I can't constantly complain about Hank getting run, or Gaborik getting pummelled without, I guess, calling for a move like this. I promise to give Dylan a chance, and still hope Gordie impresses me going forward. Go Rangers.