This
morning there was an examination
of the cost the New York Rangers paid to acquire Tim Erixon from the
Calgary Flames yesterday. Now we will go
beyond the cost of Erixon in terms of the trade and look at both what the
Rangers are getting on the ice to add to their already stacked young defensive
corps and what it means for the organization overall.
The
National Hockey League is driven by talent and when you have the ability to
acquire high end talent, especially without costing anything on your current
roster, you have to make the move. You
make the deal both for what it can do for the team on the ice, as well as the
freedom and flexibility it gives the organization to make other transactions. The New York Rangers exercised that thinking
yesterday when they traded for yet another highly regarded young defense
prospect despite the immense depth their defensive corps already possessed.
Having
Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Michael Sauer and Michael Del Zotto here
already gave the New York Rangers one of the best young defensive corps in the
league. The work of Glen Sather to not
let that stand in the way deserves to be praised and creates options for him to
help solve the Rangers scoring issues.
Having Kundratek, Valentenko, Pashnin and McIlrath, to name a few, also in
the prospect pipeline it is very likely that the Rangers will move either
someone from the NHL ranks or a prospect to gain forward help. Now they can do that from an even greater
position of strength with an increased level of trade chips at their disposal.
Now
let us take a deeper look at what the Rangers are getting on the ice with Tim
Erixon in the fold.
It's
amazing when you can go through the many scouting reports that we have on him
and see that there are not a whole lot of mistakes by a young defenseman.
In
regards to Tim Erixon, he is an NHL-ready prospect and one who projects to be a
significant contributor in the NHL. Erixon is a pro-level skater, maybe even a
tad above with a fluid stride and overall mobility that projects well. He's
decent with the puck, not much of a handler but can move and rush the puck up
and is an effective distributor on the power play. I've never really been a fan
of his shot, although it has taken notable strides since his draft year. He
measures in at over 6 feet and 200 pounds, but still has a twig-like figure and
needs one of those summers to really bulk up before he comes to the NHL. He has
added more of a physical edge to his game since his U-18 days, but the strength
isn't there enough for him to be completely effective in that regard. Erixon
derives his value from his game-processing and hockey sense, which I grade as
plus and that's not something I do often. His defensive game is extremely
sound, he's very aware with and without the puck, and quick and effective
decision-making help him contribute in all situations. He's the kind of player
who I project in a few seasons could be playing against the opposition's top
players, playing a fair amount of defensive zone minutes while putting up good
possession numbers and chipping in decent counting numbers offensively. It's
very realistic to say that Tim Erixon could be a steady first pairing
defenseman in the NHL. If he had re-entered the draft, I would have easily had
him in the 10-12 range in my current rankings and arguably in the top 10.
Son of former NHLer, Jan,
Erixon is a two-way blueliner, with a greater propensity for the offensive side
of the game. Having said that, he might have a better defensive acumen than
fellow Swedish defenseman prospects Rundblad and OEL. He does possess very good
on-ice vision and hockey sense. He is a mature player and the main thing he has
to work on to ensure what will appear to be a smooth transition to the big
leagues will be his skating and acceleration.
You
read those scouting reports about a guy who is a very good skater, solid size,
excellent defensive positioning, plays the body and has a high hockey
sense. Those traits make me think of the
Rangers own Ryan McDonagh though with more offensive upside. Even without the offensive upside, if the
Rangers could get yet another Ryan McDonagh in the organization with the
promise that he showed during his rookie season they would be ecstatic. Luckily for the Rangers they have the ability
to get both in Erixon.
This
past season he had five goals and 19 assists while playing nearly 20 minutes a
night in his 48 games. Given the lack of
scoring in the Swedish Elite League his offensive numbers are that much more
impressive. His 24 points were enough to
rank him second in the league among defenders, trailing only David Runblad. He has experience playing the point on the
power play, though let us not put the pressure of him being the power play
quarterback/savior just yet.
The
combination of the talent Erixon brings to the Rangers defensive corps and the
flexibility he gives to the front office to make complimentary moves to secure
more offense only strengthens and quickens the organization in the short and
long term. This move only continues the
movement to younger players as the foundation of this team and the more talent
you can add, at any position, the better you will be for it.
Also,
do not discount the impact that number of young players/rookies getting their
chance to show what they can do at the NHL level with Erixon wanting to come
here when he was concerned with that fact in Calgary.
