two weeks ago was the NHL draft, where the Rangers picked up nine players. The highest-draftee at number five, Alberts Šmits. They’re all young kids, so it remains to be seen who will actually make it to the NHL. Alberts Šmits, who is a Defenseman, will likely play two years from now, but he does have a shot at starting this season. Going from the draft into free agency, a lot of defensemen have been drafted so far. Five people have been picked up in free agency. Right off the bat, our blueline should be better. It remains to be seen how much better, but there are big gaps in center quality. We really need a third and fourth line center.
Pavel Dorofeyev is the biggest pick and likely will be this year because they’re giving this man a seven-year contract for $11 million a year. From Las Vegas, Pavel is 25 years old and a really promising player. Odds are he will be paireed with Mika Zabenijad or JT Miller, as those are the most likely centers he’ll be sympatico with. I’m leaning more towards JT Miller now, who should be 100% healthy and could really see a big boost whipping pucks back and forth with Pavel. He’s had a great past two seasons and he did really well in the playoffs this year. Since Buchnevich was traded many years ago, Pavel could be the long-awaited fix.
Marcus Pettersson, Sean Durzi, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Joonas Korpisalo are the other additions from free agency. Joonas is surprising, I thought Dylan would be a lock to back up Igor in net since Quick retired so it looks like Dylan has to prove himself in training camp to earn the starting back up.
On paper, a lot of these are improvements. I think it is safe to say that they won’t be as bad as last season, but that is about as low a bar as you can set after an under .500 season. The average guys are being traded away such as Conor Sheary and Johnny Brodzinski. More surprising losses are Adam Edstrom (injury has knocked his career for a loop) and Brett Berard. Matt Rempe stays; he was a lot of fun to watch when paired with Edstrom…I think with his hand still in recovery, the team couldn’t find anyone to trade with, even if they wanted to.
The biggest loss is Vincent Trochek to Utah. I really love Vinny. He’s a terrific person and a massive asset to the locker room. Simply, everybody loves this dude. He’s a tremendous player and one of the best face-off players in the league, which is where he’s gonna be missed on this team. It’s gonna be hard to replace him.
That said, things are looking up so far.