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Thoughts on NYR winning the lotto |
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Evgeny Svechnikov was recently extended, we took a look at that in the last post. At this point, we are now seeing the final “fallout” of the delayed season. We now know the first overall pick. The New York Rangers
I’ll admit, this stinks. However, it’s not as bad as it could have been. If Toronto or Edmonton added another offensive powerhouse, good grief. New York is a bit of a mixed bag. They dedicated significant resources to Panarin and Trouba. They have scoring on the wings and good goal tending, but they are a little soft up the middle. I expect a phone call to Yzerman regarding Veleno. Whether it materializes, that’s a matter of cost.
New York has a bit of a “double task” in rebuilding. They have to be exciting to fans (hence Panarin) but also have to get good drafting. Kakko last year and Lafreniere this year is certainly a good start. The market is unforgiving and immense. Having this pick buys another year of good grace for the blue shirts.
Back on June 26th we had some robust discussions about what the new format could mean. Would Toronto, Pittsburgh and New York (I also wrongly mentioned Carolina who played very well) actually have a shot at first overall?
When the draft format was announced my post condemning the situation was called “conspiracy theory”. Comments like Toronto COULD lose (odds are against it) and then win the top pick (odds are heavily against it) but that was always possible.” Obviously that wasn’t true, as a playoff team would never have a shot at getting this pick. Understanding the hard reality at the time was called “bad reporting” amongst other things. Fortunately, it didn’t come to pass. A team that would have been out of the playoffs is getting a top pick.