Over
at Hockey’s Future, Leslie Treff, has released her New York Rangers top
20 prospects spring update. The list
has changed some through graduations (Derek Stepan, Michael Sauer) as well as
players that rose or fell in the rankings. The list shows how much talent is on
the way for the Rangers to add to all the young talent that is already here.
Top 5:
Chris Kreider remains in the top spot
on the list on the back of a solid if unspectacular sophomore season at Boston
College. He did with the MVP of the 2011
Beanpot, but has had inconsistent results during the year. There will be a lot of intrigue this summer
to see if he signs or returns to BC for his Junior season.
Ryan McDonagh climbed three spots on
the list from five to number two on the back of his performance in the
NHL. His AHL season was slow to begin
and better later, but did not portend to have this kind of immediate transition
to the NHL as he had made so smoothly thus far to make himself arguably the
Rangers best defender in the second half or at least part of the best defensive
pair, along with Michael Sauer, the team has had since the All-Star Break
Christian Thomas was the biggest
riser in the group flying from 10 to 3 on the back of a tremendous OHL season
in which he has 54 goals 45 assists and 99 points in 66 games. I expect him to get a chance in camp next
season with his excellent sniping abilities but given his size he is likely to
end up back in the OHL to tear it up for another season.Evgeny Grachev came in at number four on Leslie’s list and I would have to say I disagree with ranking him that highly. The overall game has improved for Grachev this season as has his work ethic, but his offensive production does not really mesh with being rated that highly on the prospect list. Talent is still there though.
Mats Zuccarello rounded out the top five, dropping one spot from the preseason rankings, and Leslie’s read on Zuccarello is spot on in terms of his strength on and off the puck and his ability to get positioning being key factors to determine if his offensive talents will really allow him to become a big contributor.
Players Ranked Too Low
Carl Hagelin came in at number seven on the list and this is mainly because of the perceived lack of upside from where he is and the assumption that he can only be a third or fourth line type player. I am not convinced that is the case and I would have had Carl as high as 4th if I were making the list.
Roman Horak came in down at number 15 which is very low for a player who has shown the kind of improvement that Horak has from year to year. He has been an underappreciated prospect and he will get his shot next year in the AHL to show that he can be more than just a checking line type player as his offense is better than is given credit for.
Players Ranked Too High
Ryan Bourque
came it at number eight and while he has the skill to be a solid NHL player
there are still a lot of question marks that make his transition far from
certain. I would have dropped him down
to around 12.
Chad Johnson stayed
inside the top 10 despite a subpar season in the AHL and has a lot left to
prove before he can be considered an NHL backup.
