Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images North America
The Rangers are entering a crossroads for their farm system this summer. They have 18 players in Hartford/Greenville that will have their contracts expire at the end of the season. Some of those players are household names that have been in the organization for a while, some are guys on their ELCs that haven’t panned out.
Some of the younger players will be re-signed, either as hopes that they pan out or just to fill roster spots. There are also guys that are expected to be signed to their ELCs (Pavel Buchnevich, Boo Nieves, Steven Fogarty). But with the slew of veterans that are likely leaving Hartford, there will be a bunch of roster spots open.
For a team that hasn’t had many picks, they have found a way to find potential diamonds in the rough. The best way is signing undrafted prospects such as Ahti Oksanen, a standout in the development camp last summer, or waiting until August 15th and hoping for a Kevin Hayes situation with a player like Mark Jankowski of the Calgary Flames.
One great thing that we have noticed being done by teams recently, including the Rangers, is being able to sign some of these prospects to professional tryouts for the AHL before even offering them an ELC. While it is impossible to predict every player who will decide to leave school and become a UFA, we can look to seniors in college as a good base. Here are just some names that will eventually be signed by a team.
Brandon Tanev- Brother of Vancouver defenseman Chris, Brandon is seen as a late bloomer at 24, but the LW is a good skater with a quick release finally making a name for himself with Providence College. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Tanev is a hot commodity here. This will be a good time to show the NCAA Visuals that I have been making which can put his stats into context. You can view NCAA forwards here, and defensemen here.
From the visual above, you can see steady improvement for Tanev throughout his college career. The Rangers need scoring forwards in their system, so he might be worth a flier. His NHLe (NHL points equivalent) is steadily rising, which bodes well for his future.
Alexx Privitera- Privitera is a type of defenseman most teams may begin taking a chance on because of one big thing. He is a right handed puck mover, something a lot of teams constantly need so they may as well try him out in the AHL.
His production has been up and down for his career, but there is still a half-season remaining for him at Vermont. He should put up comparable numbers by the time the season ends. As a right-handed puck mover, he’s someone many teams will be targeting.
Drake Caggiula- This name may sound familiar and that is because you have probably heard his name when he scored an unreal shorthanded goal earlier in the year. The 21 year old, 5’10” LW has been becoming a legitimate offensive force every season for North Dakota (Fogarty is his captain, and the Rangers love players with history), and that is the best thing for me. While being a scoring threat, Caggiula is not plateauing and is improving exponentially.
I think he can also be one of those surprising NCAA forwards who end up being a mid season call up and put some points up in the NHL. The Rangers will have some stiff competition, as the Buffalo Sabres gave him a camp invite as well. His play this year certainly makes it seem like he is following through with what he learned from Buffalo.
Ethan Prow- Similarly to Caggiula, this right handed defenseman is having a senior year to remember offensively, already besting his career high in points. With the Rangers having a glaring hole on the right side, he is a risk that I can see them taking. He also happens to be exactly what the Rangers need on the back end. He jumps into plays, makes good pinches and also has a great first pass that leads to a breakout. It also helps that he leads all NCAA defensemen in scoring.
From this, we can see that Prow has really taken off offensively this year. With a half season to go, he could potentially double his NCAA highs. He’s already reached an NHLe of close to 30 points, which is top-four defense material, if he pans out.
There are of course many more seniors and possible juniors leaving college this year to hopefully become NHLers. With the Rangers needing to fill many holes in the AHL (and let’s face it, the NHL too), some of these high-end players could get immediate playing time. Undrafted free agents can turn out like Mats Zuccarello or Dan Girardi, so it’s always worth taking a flier on those that can potentially fit the roster.
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