Over at Sportsology Russ Cohen posted his 2011 New York Rangers
Summer Prospect Rankings on Friday. His
rankings have some similarities to many that are out there, but also a few
surprises.
Russ’ List:
Chris Kreider, Tim Erixon, Cal Hagelin, Jesper Fasth, Christian Thomas, Ryan Bourque, Dylan McIlrath, J.T. Miller, Steven Fogarty, Oscar Lindberg, Pavel Valentenko
For thoughts on his list and my own list continue after the jump.
For thoughts on his list and my own list continue after the jump.
The placement of Kreider first on the prospect is nothing
new over the past year as he has had the top spot in most every accounting out
there. I would consider moving Erixon
ahead of him if doing a rankings list right now because of the combination of
Kreider being somewhat underwhelming last season at Boston College and Erixon
being NHL ready with excellent upside, but either order is fine.
Carl Hagelin is a player that is underrated when being
projected to the NHL and that has him ranked lower than he should be on the
Rangers prospect rankings by most, but I don’t see him as the being the next
guy in line after Kreider and Erixon. That
place should be reserved for Christian Thomas who has questions about how his
size will translate to the NHL, but there are no questions about his ability to
be a sniper. Placing Thomas at 3 and
Hagelin 4 makes more sense because Thomas has significantly more upside
offensively and has no question about being a potential top six talent.
Possibly the most interesting move by Cohen in this list was
placing Jesper Fasth as high as he did.
Fasth looks like another late round steal for the Rangers who was able
to put up impressive numbers in the SEL last season and had an excellent WJC, but
it is a little early for him to be ranked above Thomas.
Cohen appears down on Dylan McIlrath by placing him below
Ryan Bourque after openly wondering if Bourque would ever be more than an AHL
player. Bourque’s intelligence and
understanding of the game will likely allow him to use his skills in the NHL as
a third line on the right team. As for
McIlrath, he is never going to be a huge offensive guy from the blue line and
for some that will always leave him considered as a bust for where he was picked,
but his intimidation is what he was chosen for and his offensive game is
improving as he showed at Prospect Development Camp last month.
2011
first round selection J.T. Miller coming in where he did on the list is not
surprising, but including 2011 third round selection Steven Fogarty in there is. Fogarty could certainly be included on the lists in a year as there is excellent upside, but he is years away from being an anywhere near ready.
My
personal rankings:
Erixon, Kreider, Thomas, Hagelin, McIlrath, Fasth, Miller, Bourque, Lindberg, Kundratek
Disclaimer: As Jess Rubenstein of The Prospect Park points out frequently, ranking prospects numerically is unfair because each is at a different stage of their development so they cannot be directly compared, so take that into account when looking at any prospect list.
