The New York Rangers acquired the 172nd pick in this year’s
draft from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2012 sixth-round
pick. The Rangers then used the pick to
select Slovak defenseman Peter Ceresnak.
Ceresnak is listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds and was the highest ranked
Slovakian in the draft this year. In
Central Scoutings rankings he checked in at #35 among European skaters.
In an interview with Copper
and Blue, Kirk Luedeke summarized Ceresnak’s game this way…
"Big guy, good stick and uses his size effectively. Doesn't have a lot of foot speed, but is fairly agile and as long as he's not in the open ice, can do a pretty good job against opposing forwards. Physical defender who uses his size effectively along the wall and in front of his net. Plays a highly conservative style, but has shown an ability to make the quick breakouts and outlets. Not a lot of upside here, but could surprise as a long-term project guy later on. He started out the season with more promise as a top-three rounder, but has fallen off."
This seems like another good value risk for the Rangers and
while they have plenty of defensive prospects in the system, taking gambles on
talent is never a bad thing. Prospects
are assets and if you have an excess in one area there is always the ability to
trade it out to help elsewhere. You can
never really have enough defenders that take pride in the defensive game, like
to hit and are willing to clear their own crease.
Last season the Oilers drafted Martin Marincin from the same
team and brought him over to the CHL to play with better players because the
quality of HK Orange is really bad.
Interesting to see if the Rangers do the same with Ceresnak this year.
