There were a few things that became very visible after the Rangers lost to the Bruins yesterday...
1. Glen Sather did a really shitty job putting a Roster together
2. Tom Renney was kept around wayyy to long
3. We're better off missing the playoffs this year.
Now I will never willingly root for my team to lose, I leave that to the poor Islander fans who desperately want to land Tavares despite the fact that they will no longer have a team to root for in the not so distant future.
But lets get real here. Can the Rangers give a team like the Bruins, Capitals or Devils a series? Sure they can. Could they win a series against any of those teams? You Betcha...
Are they going to come out of the East?
I have a better chance of getting a hand job from Jessica Alba while Megan Fox sucks my nuts and Hayden Panetierre sits on my face.
Even if we make it to the 2nd round, our run most likely ends there. If we were to some how make it a round further than that we'd get pasted by who ever is left (unless it was Montreal.) My point is, by making the playoffs we'd be playing the role of spoiler on a bigger stage but thats pretty much it.
And we want to become one of those teams that we'd be trying to spoil the party for right? Thats not even a question, of course we do.
Best way to do that as it stands right now is through the draft and SMART free agent signings. Glen Sathers free agent signings have been as logical as masturbating with sandpaper glued to your hands and just as painful.
So if we aren't going to get that right, we might as well hit a home run through the draft.
Our drafts after the lockout have been a surprising success, even if it is just a mild one. Every single one of our first round draft picks since 2005 should see time with the Rangers except for our pick in 2007, who of course was Cherepanov (RIP.) Our drafts from 2005-07 saw us take guys like Artem Anisimov and Michael Sauer in the 2nd round, showing that our scouting staff was willing to take a risk on first round talent that fell in the draft for one reason (Russian transfer agreement) or another (Injuries)
Though, a mild success isn't nearly good enough when you're fucking up with free agents as much as Slats has/is.
Heres the one positive - the 2008 draft was one of the best we've had in a long time, maybe ever. Our top pick, Michael Del Zotto, is currently leading all defensemen in scoring in the OHL playoffs (even outscoring the God of Islander fans idolatry and teammate John Tavares so far), 2nd round pick Derek Stepan finished up a very strong freshman season at the University of Wisconsin and has drawn comparisons from Head Coach Mike Eaves (Dad of Former BC Golden Eagle Ben Eaves and current Carolina Hurrican Patrick Eaves) to Former Badger Joe Pavelski (2nd liner on the Sharks) and selected Evgeny Grachev with their 3rd round pick who has taken the OHL by Storm and projects to be a first line impact winger (Please be our Jeff Carter.)
In a few words, our 2008 draft rocked.
We have to keep that trend going. Its not an option, If Sather is going to throw money around like a wanna be wall street hot shot then we better be able to develop some of our own cost controlled talent.
Finishing out of the playoffs in what would probably be the 9th spot in the east (maybe 10th if we really tank it and Buffalo wins a few) and that would give us the 14th pick in the draft. That should be plenty high enough to select one of five or six guys I really like (Kassian, Holland, Ellis, Morin,Ferraro) but the best thing to do would be to trade up a few spots to get Scott Glennie who has drawn comparisons to Mike Gartner and Teemu mother effing Selanne.
I'd also love to find a way to get another first round pick in this years draft so we could select one of the other guys on my list (Kassian if you want a Lucic type, Morin if you want to add a potential of 80 goals to our top 6 one day) but the point of all of this is....
We NEED to draft well, and it starts by drafting as high as we can in what is the deepest draft since 2003 where every single teams first round draft pick made the NHL except for one team and that was...
Yeah, ours. But we've gotten our shit straight since then, now lets take full advantage of that.
