As the 2019-2020 season has come to an end, the New York Rangers now have their sights on the NHL Draft and Free Agency. The Rangers hold the #1 overall pick in the NHL Draft this year as they look to improve their young core to make them playoff contenders. Additionally with some big free agents having breakout seasons, Jeff Gorton will be thinking of how much he wants to pay them to stay.
New York holds two picks in the first round in a deep draft class, including the #1 overall pick and the 22nd overall pick. For their first pick, the Rangers currently have their eyes on young stud Alexis Lafreniére. Lafreniére in three seasons in the QMJHL had 297 points (173 GP / 114G / 183 A / 297 P). In addition, he had a +128 rating in those three years. Lafreniére spoke on what he thought about being drafted by the New York Rangers, “The Rangers are a really big organization and a really good team, really good young team, so we’ll see what happens, but it’s a really exciting team for sure.”
As for the 22nd pick, a name that comes to mind is Mavrik Bourque. Bourque, a center, is an outstanding passer and some consider him one of the smartest passers in the draft class. The Rangers also need a center as they struggle in that category as they only finished 30th in Faceoff Percentage this past season. Bourque can be that top six centerman that the Rangers need.
Jeff Gorton has a busy job this upcoming offseason as some upcoming Restricted Free Agents and Unrestricted Free Agents are on the list of needing a new contract. A couple big names that come to mind are Tony Deangelo and Ryan Strome. Tony Deangelo is a guy that comes to mind to re-sign, who just had a breakout season with an astonishing 53 points, adding to a 15 goal season. The Rangers would also be looking at Ryan Strome, who also had another breakout year that you can’t take back from the 27 year old with a 59 point season also a +21 rating.
With a list like this, they can’t go wrong.
Image: Yahoo! Sports
