Rangers Draft Review Pt.2

Aside from taking two high upside goalies, the Rangers, yesterday too 2 forwards and 3 defensemen. Their second pick, which was a third rounder saw them taking WHL scoring tough guy Keegan Iverson.

Keegan's an interesting guy for a few reasons.   First, the draft had him listed as a Left Wing, but the Rangers called him a Center.  Now the Rangers are listing him as a Right Wing for prospect camp.   Second, I've seen two different heights on Keegan, one is 6 feet even, the other is 6'2".    I'm assuming the 6'2" height is the most recent.   In any event, it's interesting that there's some confusion over him.

After he was drafted I went to YouTube to see if he could skate.   There are massively more tapes of him fighting than skating.  So I know a chunk of Ranger fandom is going to be tickled over this pick. The good news is that it does look like he can skate.  In fact, he looks very power forwardy.    Gordie says his scoring chances will go up this year with the graduation of 5 really skillsy guys from Portland.   So Keegan will be on the first line next year.  Whether it will be as a C, a RW or a LW will have to be seen.

The other F they drafted is Richard Nejezchleb, a gritty Right Wing for the Czech Republic who's been playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings.  This guy missed some time, but he's got good size, good hands and can skate.    He may also qualify as a power forward, or at least a hard to play against scorer.  Like Iverson, he's from the WHL, which is a tough league and a rough way to grow up.  He's already 20, so I don't know if they'll leave him with Brandon or try to may ECHL him for a year.   He'd probably be better off with Brandon to complete development since he missed time early in his career.

They also took a trio of D's.  Ryan Mantha is a big 6'5 225 pounder who likes to play in his own end, but, according to Gordie, can move the puck and has a bomb from the point.   The big note on Ryan is he has to get more physical and use his size more.   His future is up in the air a bit, as he can either go to North Dakota in the fall or play Major Junior.  I think his rights are owned in the OHL, but I'd love to see him toughen up or perish in the WHL.   He looks like a good skater, and in some ways resemble Marc Staal.

The other 2 D's they took with their final 2 picks in the 5th round were left shot Daniel Walcott and right shot Tyler Nanne.   These are both puck moving, scoring offensive defensemen - the kind the Rangers have been whiffing on for about 20 years.

Let's side track for a second.   It is beyond my understanding that the team that could once find Brad Park, Ron Greshner, Mike McEwen, Brian Leetch and Sergei Zubov has gone so long without finding another one.  Lately, they've missed on Sanguinetti,  Del Zotto and Pashnin - have had to teach McD how to handle that role, bit by bit at the NHL level.   It seems to defy the odds.   Of course, MDZ was plenty talented -- he just couldn't be coached.

But that has nothing to do with Daniel or Tyler.  Walcott is a kid who went to a small college last year and didn't get drafted.  Then he went to the OHL as a 19 year old and did.  His college to major juniors move is reminiscent to the one Tambellini made this past year.    Of course, Adam did it in season, not for season to season.  Anyway, Walcott might be one of the sleepers, ringers or steals of this draft.  His skating seems plus and they had him playing in all situations as the year went on,

Tyler Nanne, is a gifted offensive defenseman who's going to have to overcome size.   He's only 5'10" as of now and will have to find ways to build himself up at Ohio State.   I expect both Walcott and Nanne to be among the stars of prospect camp this week.  The camp has always favored guys who can skate and guys who can handle the puck, and sort of suppresses the play of the gritty guys.

In all, I thought it was a typically solid Ranger draft, with plenty of thought behind it.   It will be great if any of these kids pop.   And we're already starting to feel the sting, talent wise, of two years without first rounders.