Rangers Draft Review, Pt. 1

After failing to jump into the first round last night, the Rangers made a flurry of moves this morning which netted them Emerson Etem, and allowed them to make a total of 7 picks in the final 6 rounds of the draft.

Unfortunately, the moves also saw them lose Carl Hagelin and Cam Talbot, two of better stories of their scouts and development program over the last several years.   After it was reported yesterday that the Rangers had been offered a one for Talbot, speculation ran wild.  Unfortunately we can only speculate over whether or not they sold low or somehow blew a better deal.  As of now they are down  at least one NHL level player.

They did get Emerson Etem, though, and he was a guy who I really liked back in 2010.  He's only flashed in the pro's so far, but the Rangers have done well with the young guys they didn't draft but kept following like McD, Lindberg and Hayes, so maybe they can locate the on switch for Emerson.

With their picks, the Rangers grabbed 5 forwards, 1 defenseman and a goalie.  None of them will be ready for the NHL any time soon, which is what you get when you trade away all your ones and some of your twos.

The forwards all seem to have speed and skill, if not quite NHL strength and size yet, but they'll have time to fill out.

The Dman, Zborovskiy, will probably be their most controversial pick in the short term because a few of the draft pundits had him as undraftable, and others had him going much later than the 79th pick we used to get him.  We'll have to see if the Ranger scouts have once again outsmarted the pundits.

Brooks is currently reporting that the Rangers are close on another trade for a new back-up goalie.   Hopefully the deal will also create more cap relief.