MONTREAL — Rangers president and general manager Chris Druryjust signed three restricted free agents and one on Thursday. , Participate in the second NHL Draft. Since the club's off-season began last month, one of them is an annual transaction that is expected to be traded at some point.
The off-season may have just begun, but with the start of free agents steadily approaching on July 13, the Rangers have uncertainties surrounding an important part of the lineup. .. The first face-to-face draft since 2019 may be the time when Drury makes some moves to provide clarity in these areas.
However, the Rangers have only four elections in this year's draft, the lowest number in 10 years. The last four they chose was in 2012, when the Rangers suffered a final defeat to the Devil's and was in the middle of the championship window.
Fresh from the final defeat of the conference to Lightning, the 2022-23 Rangers appear to be at the tip of another Stanley Cup window.
Therefore, this year's draft fits any promising prospects. Within the organization it is less important to decide what. It will be an opportunity for Drury to close a deal and investigate the status of the acquisition to meet the current needs of the Rangers second line center, another right wing and backup goalkeeper.
Still, drafts are just as important for the future. This is the second time the Rangers have only four picks since 1980, when it became known as the Entry Draft. They don't necessarily have to stock a prospective pipeline that has overflowed somewhat, but Drury wants to stick to some of the remaining picks after making so many trades during the trading deadlines of this past season. You may think.
Drury has dropped a pile of draft picks to win playoff run reinforcements. This would not have continued without these additions. However, given that all four are unlimited free agents this summer, all four acquisitions were pure rentals. One or two could re-contract with Rangers, especially Tyler Mott, but the delivery of the transaction deadline wiped out a significant portion of the current draft inventory.
Andrew Copp spends the Rangers in the fifth round of 2023 and two conditional seconds, eventually picking the Rangers in the first round of 2022 (No. 30) and Bruce's original 2022. For the second round pick (No. 55) jet of the year. Motte won the Canax in the fourth round of 2023 and Frank Vatrano won the Panthers in the fourth round of 2022 (No. 127). It currently belongs to the Canadiens.
Drury also sent a selection of the third round of 2023 to Philadelphia for Justin Brown. Drury gave up just a handful of draft topics, but the Rangers lost one notable outlook, Morgan Barron, who went to Winnipeg as part of the Cop deal.
Rangers' best pick of the year, No. 63 may be packaged in a trade. In fact, you can use one of the Rangers' four selections to spoil your deals. However, Drury may want to keep the remaining Picks of the Rangers. It's much harder to predict the second half of the draft, but there are always hidden gems beyond the draft position.
Players who could fall into the Rangers at number 63 include Center Leaguer Lorenz, right winger Gavin Hayes, and defenseman Mads Lindgren, who has nothing to do with Ryan Lindgren. Dedicated to the University of Denver during the 2022-23 NCAA season, Lorenz was named the Top Rookie of the Canadian Junior Hockey League in May after an outstanding year.
The Rangers would have seen the haze played with the club's 16th overall pick, Brennan Ottoman and OHL's Flint Firebird, this season.