Like most teams, the Rangers are anxious to see what they left Dallas with after this weekend’s draft. And like most teams, they’re not waiting very long as they open prospect development camp at their Westchester training facility Monday morning.
Good news for the Rangers is that their first selection at No. 9 overall, 18-year-old Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov, was able to sort out any visa issues and will be in town to showcase his skills. He is set to join his fellow first-rounders from this year, defensemen K’Andre Miller (No. 22) and Nils Lundkvist (No. 28), as well as the two first-rounders from last year, forwards Lias Andersson (No. 7) and Filip Chytil (No. 21), both of whom got a taste of the NHL this past season.
The remainder of the group of 36 players is rounded out with the rest of the 10 players taken in this year’s draft, as well as three coveted prospects the Rangers acquired in deadline deals this past season — defensemen Libor Hajek and Ryan Lindgren, and center Brett Howden.
Some thought it was a bit of a stretch for the Rangers to pick Kravtsov, who has one more year left on his deal in the KHL, which could still be bought out. But general manager Jeff Gorton said Kravtsov “wants to be here sooner than later.” The process of proving he can belong starts immediately.
The Blueshirts’ brass is excited to see how Kravtsov stacks up against the rest of its top young guns. Gordie Clark, the franchise’s director of player personnel, said Kravtsov is a lot like Evgeny Kuznetsov, the emerging star winger who just won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals and nearly won the Conn Smythe. Clark also said Kravtsov was the team’s second-highest ranked forward in the whole draft, behind only Andrei Svechnikov, who went No. 2-overall to the Hurricanes.
It should also be interesting to see how Miller performs after the Rangers traded up four spots in the draft to make sure they could get him. Clark called the 6-foot-4, 200-pounder from Minnesota “an elite athlete,” and that was exemplified in the fact that he switched from forward to defense just two years ago. He is set to attend Wisconsin in the fall.
Lundkvist is the baby face of the group, set to turn 18 years old on July 27. But the defenseman split this past season between his native Swedish junior and elite leagues, eventually moving up to play with the men and not missing a beat.
Overall, the Rangers sounded very pleased with their haul from the first round. Some speculated they might make a trade to try to improve themselves for this season, but they didn’t force anything as they continued course on this rebuild.
“You never really know, but before the draft starts, you sit down with Gordie and the scouts and play out [the scenarios],” Gorton said in Dallas on Saturday night after all was said and done. “I think it’s pretty close to what we wanted to do and anticipated. There are 30 other teams trying to take the best players, too. You’re doing the best you can, and we’re really confident we did really well in the first round.”
The trades that did happen last season brought back some nice pieces. Part of the deal that sent Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Lightning brought back Hajek and Howden, while part of the deal that sent Rick Nash to the Bruins brought back Lindgren — who left Minnesota after last season and played 10 games with AHL Hartford.
Yegor Rykov, the young Russian defenseman who came over in the deal that sent Michael Grabner to the Devils, had to deal with immigration and visa issues and will not attend.
To go along with seeing the summer development of Andersson and Chytil — who are both expected to fight for big minutes in training camp — the evaluation of exactly what the Rangers have in their system now begins in earnest.