Across the Twitter and blog-o-sphere, there have been rumblings that because the Rangers only have four draft picks (15, 105, 133, 135) in this draft, that they will look to acquire another draft pick by trading down, or they will attempt to package assets to trade up. This draft is widely known for being one of the weaker drafts of the past few years, and is reminiscent of the 1999 draft. There is a lot of potential, but also a lot of players with holes in their games that need to be filled. In fact, after the top-eight picks, the rest of the draft is a crap-shoot.

But yet, there are people that seem to want –and say that the Rangers need— to trade up or down in this draft. Let’s take a step back, and remember what happened on June 1 of this year. Not even two weeks ago, the Rangers traded Roman Horak and two second round picks in this year’s draft for Tim Erixon.

Erixon, if you remember, was set to re-enter the draft this year. In this draft class, he would have been a top-ten pick for sure. Essentially, the Rangers traded their two second round picks to move up to the top-ten to select Erixon. And they still have their #15 pick in the first round this year. That is one helluva deal made by Mr. Sather.

The Rangers simply do not have the pieces to move up in the draft. Matt Gilroy’s rights and/or Erik Christensen is not enough to move into the top-eight. Sure, they can trade either for a draft pick, but that’s probably going to be in the later rounds, if at all.

As for trading down, I don’t really see a point unless the Rangers are coveting someone that isn’t projected to go until later in the draft.  Considering the drafting success of Gordie Clark and company lately, that isn’t entirely out of the question. My only concern is that with this draft, there is the potential for someone to slide, as well as the potential for someone to jump up a few slots ahead of projections, making the draft fairly volatile in terms of projections. 

The Rangers will already get the equivalent of two first round picks in this draft with the 15th pick and Erixon.  I understand that people may think they need to make a move because of “only” four draft picks, but is it really necessary?

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