Day: July 1, 2013

Going into the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the Rangers were targetting adding another goaltender to their prospect pool, after another year of evaluating borderline NHL prospects Scott Stajcer and Jason Missiaen.

With their sixth round pick, the Rangers did just that, selecting 19 year old Kootenay Ice netminder, Mackenzie Skapski with the 170th pick in the draft.  He was the 17th goalie taken in the draft, and the 5th Canadian born netminder.

The Rangers have made it official, declining to offer pending RFA Mike Sauer a qualifying contract offer, meaning that the 26 year old defenseman will become an unrestricted free agent later in the week.  

Not that it matters, Sauer hasn’t played hockey since December of 2011, when he was sidelined by a Dion Phaneuf hit.  Since that game he’s battled post concussion symptoms, and remains unlikely to be able to resume his career.

Alain Vigneault has reportedly added former Ranger defenseman Ulf Samuelsson to his staff, and appears to be favoring his former aide in Vancouver, Newell Brown for the remaining bench spot.  No word yet on who he might be pegging for the booth, but likely there will be at least one more added to his staff.

Samuelsson returns to the Rangers after five seasons as an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes organization.  The former NHL blueliner, began his coaching career for the Rangers AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack, before moving to the desert after just one year running the defense.

It was the first time in the 51 year history of the NHL Entry Draft that the Rangers didn’t have a pick in the first two rounds, and the wait was a little monotonous.  While there was some speculation of trades the Rangers might have made, in the end they held fast and went with their first pick at #65 in the third round.

With the pick, they chose center/left wing Adam Tambellini, who is expected to play for the University of North Dakota next season.  Tambellini, who is son of former NHLer Steve Tambellini and brother of Jeff Tambellini – both of whom played for the Islanders and Canucks – has been playing in the BCHL with Surrey.

With their second third round pick, the Rangers selected Russian left wing, Pavel Buchnevich, and like Duclair, the Rangers picked up a player who saw his stock drop, despite better than average offensive skills, and high end skating.

In fact, some had even ranked Buchnevich as a first round pick, but with the Russian debuting with Cherepovets of the KHL last year, and owing two more years to the team, there’s some question as to whether he’ll ever get over to the NHL.

With the 80th overall pick in the draft, and third of their three third round picks, the Rangers selected Quebec Remparts forward Anthony Duclair.  The 18 year old native of Pointe-Claire, Quebec has above average skating and offensive capabilities, but questions remain as to whether he can round out his game.

At 5-11 and 177lbs, Duclair doesn’t have size, nor does he have the strenght, even if he might have the inclination.  A player who likes to play in the offensive end, but has not yet figured out that you need to be defensively responsible too if you want to play at the higher levels.

A physical defender, another need for the Rangers, and with their fourth round pick, they selected 6-4 220lb Yarmouth native, Ryan Graves.  The PEI Rocket blueliner projects to be another work in progress for a Rangers team who has taken flyers on several similar players over the past several years, with little to show for it.

Graves is unlikely to add much point-wise in his career – he has just 5 goals and 25 points in 170 games – but that’s not really his game.  Similar in some ways to 2011 draft pick Samuel Noreau, Graves is a big body who isn’t afraid to bring an edge to the game.

New York continued to look for defensive depth, shipping forward Kris Newbury to the Flyers in exchange for defenseman Danny Syvret.  The Rangers have now added two depth blueliners in the last two days, as they search for options to backup their core six.

Syvret was a third round choice of the Edmonton Oilers back in 2005, but has played just 59 NHL games with the Oilers, Flyers and Ducks.  He hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since the 2010-11 season when he finished out the year with a 10 game stint in the playoffs for the Flyers.

With not much to work with, the Rangers went with a little bit of breeding, some value picking and a couple of stretch picks to round it out.  All in all it was probably a decent day given the position the team was in, and what was available to them.

In Adam Tambellini, the team probably has their best chance of an NHLer.  Son of former Islanders, Rockies, Devils and Canucks player Steve Tambellini, as well as brother to Jeff Tambellini – who also played for the Islanders and Canucks, Adam has some solid genes.  He also caught the eye of a few scouts, despite playing in the second tier BCHL, on his way to a stint with perennial NCAA powerhouse in the University of North Dakota next season.