Entering
the day the Rangers looked like they were going to have a quiet early and late
portion of the day since they were not scheduled to select until the fourth
round and had no picks after the fifth. Though
many talked about weak this draft was, the New York Rangers obviously saw some
things in it that they liked in the talent pool.
The
team moved into the third round by trading
away Evgeny Grachev to St. Louis for the number 72 pick in the draft. The Rangers would make a second trade on the
day by swapping next year’s sixth round selection with Nashville for their 2011
sixth rounder at number 172.
I
am going to go through each pick with a quick summary, while you can find more
information on them by clicking the link to their selection article.
Round
Three (#72): Sean Fogarty (C, Edina High School, Minnesota)
The pick the Rangers received
in exchange for trading the unhappy Grachev went to taking a high school player
that has good size, solid skill and tremendous work ethic. Fogarty is a project and has not played much against
higher level competition. He will spend
this year in the USHL before heading off to Notre Dame. Upside is there, but it is likely to take a
good amount of time until he is ready for the NHL.
Round Four (#106): Michael St. Croix (C, Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL)
After being seen as a potential
second round pick, St. Croix slipped to the fourth round and gives the Rangers
a chance at a steal in the draft.
Skating is his strength and he has the hands to go with it. Struggles with the other side of the ice in
his game and is undersized.
Round Five (#134): Shane McColgan (RW, Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
McColgan
is another undersized winger who has excellent speed and tremendous hands. Prior to the season he was season as possibly
even cracking the top-10 in this draft, but a slow start and size concerns
ended those thoughts quickly. The upside
on him is tremendous with little risk in round five. Certainly a chance he never makes it to the
NHL level as his numbers were relatively stagnant from year-to-year in Juniors,
but you take these kind of chances in the later rounds to see if the skill pans
out.
Round Five (#136): Samuel Noreau (D, Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL)
The Rangers have suddenly
gone from a team with few if any big and mean defenseman to stockpiling them
over recent years. The development of
Michael Sauer at the NHL level, drafting of Dylan McIlrath was a good start,
and Noreau is another in that mold.
Coming in at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds he plays a physical and rough game. There is certainly need to work on his
skating and little offensive skill, but there is always room for a player that
defends his teammates and clears the crease in front of his net.
Round
Six (#172): Peter Ceresnak (D, Dukla Trencin, Slovakia)
Speaking of stockpiling
big defensive defenders, the Rangers trading a 2012 sixth round pick to be able
to select Ceresnak. Ceresnak also plays
a defense first game and a simple game at that.
With skating issues, he does have a tendency to struggle with quicker
players. Seen as a sleeper talent by
some thinking he could have gone in the third round earlier in the year, so
certainly potential value here.
Rangers have had good success mining Europe in the late rounds in recent
years as well.
Recap of the overall quality of the draft tomorrow.
