The New York Rangers have moved out of their rebuild phase and into contending for the playoffs. Aside from an excellent record, another tell-tale sign of this is seeing your rankings on prospect pool charts dropping.
That’s exactly what happened over at The Athletic (subscription required) where the Blueshirts dropped from their #2 overall ranking in 2021 to 18 in 2022.
New York Rangers prospect pool rankings
Scott Wheeler dropped the Rangers significantly, and for what it’s worth, after this trade deadline passes you can expect their rankings in 2023 to drop even further.
The main reason for the 16 spot drop is no longer considering players like Alexis Lafrenière, K’Andre Miller, and Nils Lundkvist as prospects.
“The good news is they have depth in quality and quantity otherwise, with a handful of legitimate prospects and a group of B-grade guys who extend into the double digits, making them the deepest pool to appear in this year’s project to this point,” Wheeler wrote. “They also don’t have any glaring needs in their pool, with a little bit of everything at every position (short of those true elite guys, obviously).”
Here are Wheeler’s top 5 out of 10 NYR prospects:
- Brennan Othmann
- Zac Jones
- Braden Schneider
- Vitali Kravtsov
- Brett Berard
David Quinn’s second chance
The New York Rangers let go of head coach David Quinn at the end of the 2020-21 campaign. He amassed a record of 96-87-25 and a .522 winning percentage in three seasons.
Quinn, 55, made his mark in the NCAA as Boston University’s head coach from 2013-14 to 2017-18. During his time there he compiled a record of 100-59-20. In addition, he won two Hockey East tournament titles, a Beanpot championship and a NCAA national championship game berth.
Now, he will lead Team USA at the Olympics and he’s getting a huge vote of confidence from those that know him.
One of Quinn’s former players, defenseman Brendan Smith spoke highly of him to the AP.
“I really think Quinny can be a great coach in the NHL,” Smith said. “The situation he was put in was an unwinnable situation, really, and I’m excited for him to go over there. I think he will do a very good job.”
Jeff Gorton, who now runs the Montreal Canadiens also sang his praises. “He’s a very good hockey coach. He’ll get another job eventually,” he said. “I think this is a great opportunity for him to go (to the Olympics) and show what he can do.”
As for Quinn himself, he isn’t thinking about his next NHL gig, just the job at hand.
“Whatever comes from winning a gold medal, I’ll take,” Quinn said. “Whatever comes from that, I’ll live with it and I’ll embrace it.”
Gerard Gallant for the Jack Adams
Forever Blueshirts has already raised the idea that head coach Gerard Gallant should be a leading candidate for the Jack Adams Award. Now, he’s getting more recognition among the experts.
A panel of 16 NHL.com writers hasn’t overlooked Sullivan this season. He’s the favorite to win the Jack Adams Award after receiving 44 voting points, including seven first-place votes. New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant received 44 points, including one first-place vote. Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes was third with 37 points, including one for first place, and Andrew Brunette of the Florida Panthers was fourth with 34 votes and four first-place votes. Others receiving one first-place vote were John Hynes of the Nashville Predators (31 points), Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche (nine) and Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild (nine).
NHL.com
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