Forgive me, but I have a feeling this is going to be a very unorganized rant. But, bare with me.

I’ve been reading and hearing fans, reporters, and commentators bemoan the fact that the Rangers selected Hugh Jessiman instead of Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards, Ryan Getzlaf and others. It’s true. Zach Parise would have been awesome, because he’s, well Zach Parise. Hugh Jessiman is, well, Hugh Jessiman. There’s no denying the talent dropoff. There’s no denying the Rangers made a mistake.

The funny thing about drafts, though, is that they are very unpredictable. No one would have guessed that Henrik Lundqvist, picked 205th overall in 2000, would be one of the world’s best. Same goes for Henrik Zetterberg (210,1999).

Furthermore, no one expected Alexandre Daigle, (1, 1993) to become a huge bust. Raffi Torres was picked 5th overall in 2000. Nice player, but not 5th overall worthy.

So, mistakes happen in drafts. Great players get overlooked. Bad players get picked too high. It happens. In 2003, it happened to the Rangers.

But, in the last couple of years, that’s been the last bad pick.

2004-Brandon Dubinsky/Ryan Callahan

2005-Marc Staal

2006- Bobby Sanguinetti/Artem Anisimov

2007- Alexei Cherepanov (RIP)

2008- Michael Del Zotto/Derek Stepan/Evegeni Grachev

2009-Chris Krieder/Ryan Borque/ Ethan Werek

So, the future is bright. While the Jessiman picked sucked, it wasn’t like it set the franchise back years. The Rangers are stacked in the farm system. Would the Rangers have been a better team with Zach Parise? Of course. But, they didn’t pick him. They picked Jessiman. It’s over. 2003 was a long time ago. Focus on the present and future.

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