Lukas Bengtsson
With all of the rumors flying around and the trade deadline approaching in the next six days, it seems that there is only one thing we know for certain. The New York Rangers will be going for it. Elliote Friedman, who had an AMA on Reddit yesterday, was asked a question about Keith Yandle and his future leading up to the deadline. He replied that he feels that the Rangers will keep him for the playoff run.
Personally I love savoring every moment of Yandle and do hope there is some way that they find a way to retain him, but at this point it is clear that it is Cup or bust. The Rangers will be making 1 or 2 moves and there will all be an attempt to make one more push with the team as currently constructed. Although I feel that there is still much to fix I couldn’t help but smile yesterday knowing that hey… anything can happen, maybe this is the year?
Whatever happens at trade deadline, the Rangers will most likely be thinning an already thin prospect pool and while it isn’t fun to imagine, realistically speaking you can recoup and refill a prospect pool in four or five seasons. A great example is the Flyers, who went from nothing to a top-five prospect pool.
The Rangers have a lot of contracts expiring, so naturally they will be very active in the UFA market for younger players to refill that pool. A guy like Jimmy Vesey (Kevin Hayes Situation but for Nashville) should be on their radar. Guys like Vesey are easy to find, but one thing we don’t give the Rangers enough credit for is finding undrafted guys who eventually end up having an NHL future. With so many roster spots open, this may be the route they take.
One of my top guys on this list is Swedish defenseman Lukas Bengtsson, a right handed defenseman. Bengtsson isn’t the biggest guy but his skating and acceleration are so nice that he is worth the risk. Although short at 5’10, Bengtsson uses his speed on the rush and protects the puck well enough to help his team enter the zone and maintain offensive possession.
Bengtsson also has a wonderful one timer and uses it frequently on the powerplay, something the Rangers need badly. Bengtsson was invited to camp last year and has shown significant improvement over the past few years. He’s on the Rangers’ radar.
Some compare his defensive game and puck moving ability to former Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman, so much so that I updated my SHL visual which can compare any player over the last 10 seasons to each other. Here is Bengtsson compared to Stralman during their 21 year old seasons. For those who do not know, NHLe is a little stat made to possibly predict how many points a player would have over 82 games in the NHL using an equivalency formula.
Bengtsson was also invited to the Chicago Blackhawks camp, but hopefully Bengtsson playing in Frolunda and the Henrik Lundqvist factor can make us the front runner in signing him.
Another right-handed defenseman to keep your eye on is Jerret Smith. He is big, physical, and has been to the last two prospect camps for the Rangers. Smith is 6’2, 208 lbs and on top of his physical game. He is also continuing to produce points. He was told to work on his skating a little bit by the Rangers staff, but he is also adding a big shot to his repertoire.
The Rangers must have been watching him quite a bit, as he captains the team that 2nd round pick Ryan Gropp plays on. One thing that I think is really cool is that although he is not the highest scoring defenseman on his team, he is tied for the lead on primary points per game by defensemen on the team. He is also 12th in the WHL among defensemen (per WHL Prospect Stats).
There’s also Adam Brooks, another guy the Rangers invited to their development camp this summer. The short center was one of the brighter spots on the Traverse City team. The thing that was incredible about Brooks is that he pretty much had a crazy bounce back year after only 11 points two years ago. That season, he had 62 after a coaching change. Well… 62 seems like nothing this season as he now has 97 points in 58 games. Something tells me the Rangers have seen a lot of him this season as well, with Sergey Zborovskiy playing on the same team. With him probably reaching 100 points and continuing to grow as a player I would love for us to take a risk with him.
Players like Brooks, Smith, and Bengtsson are the reason why the Rangers have been able to keep the talent pool refreshed without any first round picks. There are plenty of players that are late bloomers. The club has had their eyes on these guys for a while, and with so many open spots, it’s possible they add a few of them in the offseason.
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