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People questioned the amount Glen Sather gave up for Marty St Louis, baulked at the cost of Rick Nash and panicked when Anthony Duclair was part of the Keith Yandle package. Move forward from each of those deals however and each star acquisition brought into the Rangers fold has made a tangible impact on the Rangers helping turn the organisation into an annual contender. (Of course, Keith Yandle’s true impact is still to be truly measured).

What has allowed Sather to make all these bold moves and show almost blatant disregard to the importance of early round draft picks is the way the Rangers roster has progressively become younger, more talented and well established. The Rangers have eight players who have scored at least 10 goals, five of which have only ever played for the Rangers, while Derick Brassard is just 27 and tied into the Rangers for the long term. That number of ten goal goalscorers doesn’t count JT Miller whose impact is now being felt consistently and who should hit double figures.

Looking at the deceptively young Rangers, Sather has even used free agency to good effect (hey, even Sather didn’t strike out every time…) when you consider how he recruited Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes. With all this said, take a brief look at the Rangers top nine forwards. There’s no reason not to expect the Rangers top nine to be among the East’s best for the long term as currently constructed. Does this mean the concern over a lack of draft picks in the next year or two is unwarranted?

Against Ottawa, we once again saw how dominant Chris Kreider can be. Kreider is 23 and a beast when he’s focussed. The only challenge facing Kreider is consistency. Derek Stepan is one of the leagues very best passers and Kreider’s first goal was exhibit A in highlighting Stepan’s ability. The breakout pass off the boards was the perfect way to utilise Kreider’s skating ability. Stepan is just 24 yet already a veteran who is comfortable in a major role facing the league’s best opposing lines regularly.

Then there is Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello is just 27 and while he’s undersized who cares about his size anymore? He is a creative force that works harder than most, is becoming a leader of this group and whose new contract is a comparative bargain around the league.

Then there’s 22 year old Kevin Hayes who is quickly blossoming into a top young player and who is blessed with immense stick handling and size. If Hayes’ learns to use his size to full effect, the Rangers may have quietly snagged the best free agent of the 2014 offseason and whose impact could be felt for a decade. Thanks Chicago.

Without considering the merits of Brassard, Carl Hagelin and Miller in detail, the Rangers have a young, highly skilled core that made it much easier for Glen Sather to move some of those recent picks and prospects and has certainly helped him justify the Rick Nash deal. The Nash deal already looks like grand larceny without even factoring in the third round pick he got back was used on Pavel Buchnevich. What happens if the Russian uber prospect makes it as well? The Nash deal arguably becomes one of the greatest deals in Rangers history.

Before we even mentioned Rick Nash in any detail we’ve named seven Ranger forwards who the future will be built around before discussing the Rangers soon-to-be 40 goal scorer who himself is still just 30. There’s no reason to think Nash hasn’t got a few more quality seasons in Ranger blue too. We haven’t even given Marty St Louis a seconds thought and yet he is second on the team in goals and helped this team get to a Stanley Cup final.

Without going into any great detail about the aforementioned group of Rangers forwards, we’ve touched on how bright the future could be. The Rangers are young. They are talented, they’re deep, have a great blend of size, speed and skill and are successful. They have been carefully constructed and for the vast majority the upside hasn’t even been reached. Moving early round draft picks is a gamble but its a solid gamble when your team is this well built and built for the long haul.

People worry about draft picks and of course, every fan of every team would prefer their team to keep and use all their own draft picks but thanks to careful roster management the Rangers have enviable youth up front ensuring a great future. The next group of draft picks remain important, but with careful planning they are just part of the process and part of that process for a contender is moving picks to upgrade the roster. The Rangers are a contender folks.

 

 

 

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