TSN catches up with former Ranger first round bust Jamie Lundmark who was recently picked off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs..."Once a can't-miss-kid touted by NHL Central Scouting, a gifted forward taken ninth overall by the New York Rangers, Lundmark is hoping to use the last 21 games of the season to prove he can play. He wants to accomplish some of the goals he set for himself back when he was 19, representing Canada and set to become a star."
On why he struggled with the Rangers Lundmark said...
"A first-rounder going into New York is obviously a lot of pressure," he said. "I was young, but also, our team was old. We had a lot of veteran, all-star players who needed to play minutes. Really, I don't think I learned a lot in the first couple years of my career, and I think that kind of set me back."
...i'm sorry if you can't learn a lot sitting in a lockerroom with Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter you're not going to learn anywhere.
...having said that, the Rangers did an awful job incorporating youth into those teams which led to the long playoff draught of the late 90s and early 2000s.
3 comments:
For starters, graves wasn't even there when Lundmark was... but that's besides the point. Those were the Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros type days when we just kept inundating the roster with veterans who were over the hill and we had no room for rookies. I'd say that Lundmark entered the mix at the very highest point of the Satherized version of the New York Rangers... go easy on the kid.
My bad Jamie. Good luck in Toronto.
There is a lesson to be learned from the handling of some of our draft picks from that era as well. Dont Rush. While picks like Lunmark and Malhotra probably went a bit higher than they should have, I think they both had solid second line-role player potential, but it doesnt do an 18 year old much good to play them 6 minutes a night on the 4th line when they could be playing 20 minutes in Hartford. Not every first rounder has a Del Zotto learning curve.
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