DALLAS (TX) – The Rangers 2017-18 season was a roller coaster. After starting the season with aspirations of playing for the Stanley Cup, a mediocre first half resulted in management addressing the fans with a letter of intentions to start from scratch.
Without ever actually using the term “rebuild”, New York’s front office let it be known to the Blueshirt faithful that their intentions now are to develop young prospects with the hopes of returning to perennial contenders within a couple years.
Last year at the draft the team traded veteran centerman Derek Stepan and solid backup netminder Antti Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes for rookie defenseman Tony DeAngelo and the #7 overall pick, which they used to draft Swedish centerman Lias Andersson. When their original pick came around at #21, the Rangers decided to continue bolstering their center depth with Czech native Filip Chytil.
In their continued mission to add front line snipers, the New York Rangers decided to take American Sniper Oliver Wahlstrom from the U.S National Development team.
The crafty winger/centerman will most likely remain at his most comfortable position on the wing, with the aforementioned influx of young centers New York has acquired.
Elite Prospects describes the explosive winger as a “sensational scoring threat” with “individual puck skill, paired with a high level of thinking” that “makes him a difficult cog to take out of alignment”.
He posses a high level of skill and is known as a shoot-first player, something the Rangers always seem to need. He’s a natural goal scorer who should help the Rangers depth on the sides after the departure of Rick Nash and J.T Miller in the offseason.
It seems Rangers were fortunate to have the sniper fall to #9 as most of his rankings were in the top seven.
He was ranked highest at #5 by ISS Hockey and Future Considerations while Hockeyprospect.com has him pegged to go 6thoverall and McKeen’s Hockey and NHL Central Scouting has him going at #7.
The soon-to-be 18-year-old recently wrapped up his time at Under-18 Five Nations tournament posting two-goals and six-assists in four games played, finishing with a +3 (via USA Hockey)
In total for the 2017-18 year with the USDP he went 48-46-94 in just 62 games played (via Elite Prospects).
Follow Danny on Twitter at @Danny_PJones
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