Hockey's Future Ranks Rangers Future 12th in NHL

Hockey’s Future released their spring rankings this week and the Rangers are ranked No. 12 overall after they were ranked as high as No. 3 this fall.

Here is what they had to say:

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Strengths

The Rangers have excellent depth at both center and on defense. New York has been very successful in drafting top talent players in the middle of the first round, and Chris Kreider, who was drafted out of prep school in 2009, looks to be another of those gems.

 

Weaknesses

The Blueshirts biggest organizational weakness is on right wing. There are only two wingers on the right side in the entire organization, and one, David Kveton, may never again play in North America.

There is also uncertainty between the pipes. Chad Johnson has played well in his first professional season, but his upside is still uncertain. University of Alabama-Huntsville netminder Cameron Talbot was signed recently. However, it is unclear whether there is a true NHL backup to Henrik Lundqvist within the system, let alone a starter.

 

Top Five Prospects

1. Evgeny Grachev, C
2. Derek Stepan, C
3. Chris Kreider, LW
4. Bobby Sanguinetti, D
5. Ilkka Heikkinen, D

 

Lost to graduation

Artem Anisimov, Michael Del Zotto.

 

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Thoughts

It seems like quite a hit to go from No. 3 to No. 12 in just a couple of months. The Rangers did graduate a couple of good young players, especially Del Zotto who played a big role on the Rangers defense this season, but I feel like maybe they were expecting certain prospects to be further along at this point.

To me the biggest problem with the youth of this organization is the lack of a true star talent, but the Rangers haven’t been able to draft low enough to get that kind of talent.

Not having goaltending depth doesn’t bother me that much especially after Lundqvist just put together a 72 game season. Sure it would be nice, but it isn’t going to be a huge problem for the Rangers.

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