{"id":51914,"date":"2019-07-18T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=51914"},"modified":"2019-09-19T16:58:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T20:58:41","slug":"new-york-rangers-prospects-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/07\/18\/new-york-rangers-prospects-2\/","title":{"rendered":"TSP: New York Rangers Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the 2019 Top Shelf Prospects series.\u00a0 As we go through the Summer of 2019 LWOH will be featuring a team-by-team look at the top prospects in the NHL. We will be following the order of the first round of the NHL draft (as if there were no traded draft picks) and\u00a0you can find all the articles here<\/a>.\u00a0 Since we had an\u00a0extensive NHL Draft preview<\/a>, we will not be reviewing the players who were drafted in the 2019 draft, as there have been no games since then, and our reports on them will not have changed. Today we look at the New York Rangers Prospects.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"What we will be doing is linking you to those articles, as well as taking a look at prospects that were acquired before this year\u2019s draft; their progress, and their chances of making the 2019-20 roster of the NHL team in question. We will also bring you one sleeper pick \u2013 a player who was either drafted in the 4th-round or later, or was an undrafted free agent signing who we pick as our dark horse to make the NHL. For those wondering, the cut-off for what is or isn\u2019t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played (including playoff games) or is 25 years old. These are not hard or fast rules though, and we may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

New York Rangers Prospects<\/h2>\n

The New York Rangers<\/a>\u00a0rebuild continued in 2018-19, finishing 7th in the Metro Division and over 20 points out of the playoffs. However, there were some bright spots. Mika Zibanejad<\/a><\/strong> emerged as a true top-line scoring threat with 74 points. Tony DeAngelo<\/strong> put up 30 points in 61 games on the blue line and\u00a0Alexandar Georgiev<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>put up a .914 save percentage.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t good enough though, and the Rangers have spent the off-season accelerating the rebuild. They have beefed up the defence with the acquisitions of Jacob Trouba<\/a><\/strong> and Adam Fox<\/strong>. General manager Jeff Gorton<\/strong> also added the best free-agent forward on the market in Artemi Panarin<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0They also were awarded the second overall pick in the NHL Draft lottery and added an elite prospect in Kaapo Kakko.<\/p>\n

2019 Draft\u00a0Picks (Grade B+<\/a>):\u00a0Kaapo Kakko<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Matthew Robertson<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Karl Henriksson<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Zachary Jones<\/strong>,\u00a0Hunter Skinner<\/strong>,\u00a0Leevi Aaltonen<\/strong>,\u00a0Adam Edstrom<\/strong>,\u00a0Eric Ciccolini<\/strong>,
\n2018-19 Graduations: Filip Chytil<\/a><\/strong>, Lias Andersson<\/a><\/strong>, Brett Howden<\/a><\/strong>, Neal Pionk<\/a><\/strong> (since traded), Brendan Lemieux<\/a><\/strong>, Boo Nieves<\/a><\/strong>,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Prospect: Kaapo Kakko<\/h3>\n

The Rangers drafted Kakko with the 2nd overall pick in this year\u2019s NHL draft. Prior to the draft, we did an in-depth scouting report on Kakko. As no games have been played since that report; we will not repeat it.\u00a0You can\u00a0check out the report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#2 Prospect: Vitali Kravtsov<\/h3>\n

Right Wing\/Centre \u2014 shoots Left
\nBorn December 23rd, 1999 \u2014 Vladivostok, Russia
\nHeight 6\u20194\u2033 \u2014 Weight 183 [192 cm \/ 83 kg]
\nDrafted by the New York Rangers in the 1st round, 9th overall, at the 2018 NHL Draft<\/p>\n