brett howden

Corey Pronman is in the process of releasing his 2018 NHL organization prospect rankings, and the Rangers came in at #11 on his list (sub req’d). The Rangers moved up from #29 last year, so an 18 spot jump shows how much last year’s trade deadline and draft stocked the cupboards.

While the Rangers do lack a larger number of elite level prospects, the by product of four straight years without a first round pick, Pronman did note that the Rangers have one of the deepest prospect pools in the league.

The top prospects are the guys you’d expect to be up there, but the big surprise to me was Brett Howden ranked as the #5 prospect in the system, ahead of all the defense prospects in the system. That surprised me a bit, and perhaps I’m sleeping on Howden when I shouldn’t be.

The rest of the guys listed are what you expect, although Olof Lindbom is listed higher than I thought he would be. That in turn led me to list him higher in my Top 25 Under 25 yesterday.

There are few prospect voices I listen to with a rare second guess, and Pronman is one of them. I’m intrigued to see where the Rangers sit next year, after a year of development and trade deadline selling. The future looks bright.

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