keith yandle

Yandle’s acquisition meant another year without a #1.

Much has been made of the New York Rangers history of trading draft picks in recent years. BSB regular Spozo recommended that we go through, afterthe lockout in 2004, and see what those traded picks turned into. It was a pretty fantastic idea, so here we are today. It’s worth noting that this post will only look at picks traded for players, not picks used to trade up/down. Let’s begin.

2005 Draft

The Rangers traded up with Atlanta to get Marc Staal in the first round (picks used on Alex Bourret and Ondrej Pavelec), and then traded down with Montreal (pick used to take Guillaume Latendresse)to recoup the pick. But the Rangers didn’t trade any picks for players in this one.

2006 Draft

The Rangers had acquired the #83 pick (third round) from San Jose for Ville Nieminen, and then sent that pick to Anaheim for Sandis Ozolinsh. This pick was used by the Ducks on Jon deGray. deGray never made it to the NHL.

The Rangers traded their 2007 4th rounder to Washington for their 5th rounder this year. Washington drafted Brett Bruneteau in 2007, while the Rangers took Tomas Zaborsky. Neither made it to the NHL. The Rangers also traded up in the fourth round with the Kings, but nothing came of that.

2007 Draft

The Rangers traded their third rounder this year, with Pascal Dupuis, to Atlanta for Bourret. Yes, the same Bourret mentioned above in the Staal trade. Kind of funny actually. Atlanta sent that pick to Pittsburgh, who used it on Robert Bortuzzo, who has been an OK bottom-six guy in his three year career to date. Bortuzzo is now with St. Louis.

The Rangers also traded their fourth rounder this year to Anaheim for Steve Rucchin, then reacquired that pick with Petr Sykora for Maxim Kondratiev. This was the pick the Rangers sent to Washington in 2006, covered above.

2008 Draft

Sean Avery

Photo (The Canadian Press Images/Larry MacDougal)

The Rangers traded their original third round pick to the Kings in the Sean Avery deal. This pick eventually went to Buffalo, who selected Corey Fienhage, who never made it to the NHL. Worth noting that the Rangers had two other third rounders this year. One from dealing Matt Cullen to Carolina, that they used to draft Evgeny Grachev, and one dealing Bourret to Washington, that they used on Tomas Kundratek.

The Rangers traded their fourth round pick to St. Louis for Christian Backman, then reacquired this pick by trading up to nab Dale Weise.

2009 Draft

The Rangers traded their 2009 second rounder to Toronto for Nik Antropov, which the Leafs used on Kenny Ryan. Ryan never made it to the NHL. The Rangers had an additional second rounder this year –used on Ethan Werek– that was awarded after the Alexei Cherepanov tragedy.

The Rangers traded their fourth rounder this year in the Dale Weise deal, which Nashville used on Nick Olive, who was never signed.

The Rangers traded their last fifth rounder (they had two others – Roman Horak, Scott Stajcer), which they had acquired from Toronto for Ryan Hollweg, to Pittsburgh for Chad Johnson. Pittsburgh selected Andy Bathgate, who never made it past the ECHL.

2010 Draft

The Rangers traded their third rounder to the Kings for Brian Boyle. This pick was used on Jordan Weal. Weal hasn’t made it to the NHL yet, but after a pair of 70-point years in the AHL, he might make it sooner or later.

The Rangers sent their sixth rounder to the Islanders for Jyri Niemi. The Isles sent this pick to Atlanta, who took Tanner Lane, who was never signed.

2011 Draft

markus granlund

Granlund (Photo by Al Charest/ Calgary Sun)

The Rangers sent a pair of second rounders to Calgary in the Tim Erixon deal. The Flames drafted Markus Granlund and Tyler Wotherspoon with those picks. Wotherspoon has played 15 games with the Flames thus far (0-4-4), and doesn’t appear to be an impact player. Granlund spent half the year with Calgary, putting up 10-11-21 in 48 games. He appears to have cracked the roster.

The Rangers traded their original third rounder to Florida for Brian McCabe. Florida drafted Logan Shaw, who hasn’t made it to the NHL yet. The Rangers had another third rounder (from St. Louis for Grachev), which they used on Steven Fogarty.

The Rangers traded their original sixth rounder to San Jose for Jody Shelley, which the Sharks used on Daniil Sobchenko. Sobchenko was killed in the Yaroslsvl Lokomotiv plane crash in 2011.

The Rangers seventh rounder went to Phoenix/Arizona for Anders Eriksson. The Yotes took Zac Larraza with the pick. Larraza was never signed.

2012 Draft

The Rangers traded their 2012 third rounder to Nashville for their 2013 third rounder. The Predators took Brendan Leipsic, who they sent to Toronto at the deadline this year. The Rangers took Adam Tambellini. Both are solid prospects, neither have made it to the NHL yet.

The Rangers traded their fifth rounder this year to Chicago for John Scott, LOL. The Hawks drafted Travis Brown, who just finished his overage year in the WHL.

The Rangers sent this year’s sixth rounder to Nashville (sensing a trend yet?) for their sixth rounder in 2011. The Rangers took Peter Ceresnak in 2011. The Preds took Marek Mazanec with this pick. The goalie is blocked by Pekka Rinne at the moment, but appears to have a decent shot at an NHL career.

The Rangers seventh rounder went to Toronto for John Mitchell, and Toronto took Viktor Loov with the pick. Loov just finished his first AHL season with the Marlies.

2013 Draft

This is where the Rangers started trading a lot of high picks. Their first rounder went to Columbus in the Rick Nash deal. The Jackets took Kerby Rychel, who is a highly touted prospect for the team. He got his first cuppa last season, and put up 12-21-33 in 51 games in the AHL.

The Rangers send their second rounder to San Jose in the Ryane Clowe deal. The Sharks took Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau, who is still in the QMJHL.

The Rangers had a third rounder from Florida, but sent that to San Jose in the Clowe deal as well. The Sharks sent it to Phoenix, who drafted Yan-Pavel Laplante. Laplante is still in the QMJHL.

The Rangers sent their fifth rounder this year to Nashville, again, for Nashville’s fifth rounder the year before. The Rangers took Thomas Spelling that year. The Preds took Teemu Kivihalme, who plays for Colorado College currently.

The Rangers seventh rounder went to Minnesota in the Casey Wellman deal. The Wild took Alexandre Belanger, who is still in the QMJHL.

2014 Draft

The Rangers traded their first rounder to Tampa Bay in the Ryan Callahan/Martin St. Louis swap. The pick eventually went to the Isles, who took Josh Ho-Sang. Lots of folks liked Ho-Sang, still too soon to tell.

The Rangers sent their fifth rounder to San Jose in the Clowe deal, and they took Rourke Chartier. Chartier just put up a 48 goal season as a 19 year old in the WHL.

The Rangers had a sixth round pick as a part of the Marian Gaborik trade from Columbus, but sent it to Minnesota for Justin Falk. Minny took Chase Lang, who just finished his age-18 season in the WHL. New York’s original sixth rounder went to San Jose for Brandon Mashinter. San Jose sent this pick to Chicago, who drafted Ivan Nalimov. Navimov just finished his first year in the KHL as an 18-year-old goalie.

The Rangers seventh rounder went to LA for Dan Carcillo. LA took Spencer Watson, who has been a point-per-game in the OHL for two years.

It’s worth noting that the Rangers traded down twice, acquiring more picks throughout the draft.

2015 Draft

This year’s first rounder also belonged to Tampa Bay in the Cally/MSL swap, and this pick again went to the Isles, who took Anthony Beauvillier.

The Rangers original second rounder went to Anaheim as a part of the Carl Hagelin/Emerson Etem swap, but the Rangers also moved up in the second round as a result of the trade to take Ryan Gropp. Anaheim took Julius Nattinen with this pick. The other second rounder the Rangers had, from Tampa, went to Arizona in the Keith Yandle trade. This eventually went to Calgary, who took Oliver Kylington. New York had one other selection in the second round from the Cam Talbot deal, but traded down with Washington.

The fifth rounder this year went to Vancouver in the Raphael Diaz trade in 2014, and the Canucks took Adam Gaudette. Their sixth rounder went to Anaheim in the Hagelin/Etem swap, and the Ducks took Garrett Metcalf.

The Rangers seventh rounder went to Tampa in the MSL/Cally deal, then back to the Rangers for Daniel Walcott. This pick went to Edmonton in the Talbot deal, who took Ziyat Paigin.

Josh is going to have to evaluate the 2015 draftees for you, I’m not well versed on them.

So after this exercise, the Rangers haven’t really lost much yet. The first rounders given up will eventually hurt, or at least they are expected to hurt. But in terms of guys who have hit the NHL now, there aren’t many. Granlund is the only “steady” NHLer, although Rychel should crack the CBJ roster this year.

We won’t really know for another 3-5 years if these moves really killed the Rangers long term. But at least through now, the Rangers haven’t been burned.

 

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