In my final post before I left for the draft party I was kidding when I said 'Here's hoping Sather doesn't somehow screw this up.' Well he did.Is McIlrath the crease clearing, Beukeboom type defenseman every Ranger fan craves? Absolutely. Were the top forwards the Rangers seeking all taken? For the most part.
But wow at #10 you want to come away with a better player than him.
What I can't understand is if McIlrath was the player they wanted they could have easily traded down to get him and added some late round picks.
I'm wondering if it was a panic pick after all the forwards they were interested in were taken, they weren't convinced Tarasenko would be coming over from the KHL and they didn't feel an offensive defenseman (Fowler) was a need.
But what do I know. I wasn't in the war room and maybe no one wanted to trade up. I trust Gordie Clark's decision making and will root like heck that in 3-4 years this kid is making life miserable for Crosby.
Lots to get to today including draft party review, links to McIlrath, post first round reaction and getting ready for tonight's second round.
15 comments:
it wasn't a "panick" move- they had his name stiched on a jersey already. Dallas would have grabbed him at 11. dallas was very high on this kid. Its a solid pick. Rangers fans are never happy>
Listen I can't complain about the pick. A big physical defenseman is a need for the Rangers, but they could have traded down for him.
I'm sure they also had jersey's with Nino, Johansen and Skinner stiched on it as well.
I haven't seen the Stars say anywhere they were going to take him so until I see that, I'm going to say they could have traded down.
I was upset initially but reading more into it, it makes sense to me and I'm liking the pick more and more.
The rangers didn't have the option to trade down as #11 Dallas was interested in him. The kid was going to go 11-15th and rangers tried to address a need rather than draft a player that we already have in the system(MDZ, Sangs).
In an interview with McIlrath
Q. Who were the other teams?
DYLAN McILRATH: Dallas, Anaheim, Vancouver, and Florida. So all of those teams.
Im also guessing that they weren't very high on Tarasenko and stuck to drafting "character players".
LArry Brooks of the NY Post also said that Dallas was going to grab him at 11....The Rangers were looking to trade down to 12 to take him
Not a "panic" move and they couldn't have traded down for him . . .
Apparently, there was also no thought of trading down because Gordie Clark said they knew other teams would have grabbed him. “With the information that my scouts had, we actually knew certainly a few of them were trying to move into the same spot and for the same guy,” Clark said. This was the guy the Rangers wanted from the beginning (in part because they knew some of the guys who would not be left when their pick came). Clark said the Rangers started tracking McIlrath closely in December and they think he's really starting to take off right now.
I think he's a solid pick and I hope it doesn't take too long for him to be ready. I definitely hope to see a stay at home crease clearing Defenseman down the road.
Can't wait to hear about the other picks that come through today.
This isn't a bad pick. When you look at the draft, not only was it defensive heavy, the next forward after the rangers pick didn't go for a good long while. They were probably thinking best available player at that point. This now allows them to trade some of their young defensive stock while still maintaining a young core. Think about what this ranger defense is going to look like in 2-3 years:
Staal, Del Zotto, McDonagh, McIlrath, Girardi, etc, with Lundqvist and our talented forwards, that is a pretty good team.
I think Sanguinetti will also make it on the big club so add his name to that young Dcore.
To me its simple even though it took a while to see it that way
DZ, Sangs can score, Staal, McD are shutdown and this kid can smash. Building a future Dcore
Watching what Gordie and JimS had to say about the kid, finally a player that will play to his size. It has been a long while that we hasve added character to the resume of a hockey player when drafting. Skill has always left us hanging when it didn't mature enough to make a difference, thus the FA market.When teams come up to you after the draft and say good pick-that has to give validation to the thought process.
I love all the things Clark and Scho said about him. Mostly his improvement over the last year and how good he is on his feet. If he turns out to be what they think he will be, then this kid is fantastic. As they said, "It's a kid we really did our homework on, similar to Kreider."
Ok so I definitely agree with what chris and ag_blue are saying about McIlrath. His stock has definitely skyrocketed over the past 6 months. And if you look at Bob Mckenzie's Twitter he says "Like I said earlier, McIlrath at 10? No big deal because he was going 11 to 15 guaranteed." And he knows what he's talking about. The rangers scooped him up because they knew he was the next in line.
But the question that not one person has asked here is WHY BEFORE FOWLER AND GORMLEY?????!??!?!!?
These guys were ranked TOP 5 in the entire draft!!!!!! They slid down because everyone was taking forwards(which I am still very upset about). Every scout was high on them. So How do you justify passing on these two?
@Charlie- how does 11 other teams justify the fact as well. I think that this pick signifies the fact that character is just as important in the decision making as a skill set is.
If it was based totally on skill on all three players at the current time-than both Gormley and Fowler would have triumphed.
But if you project these players into a three year period, the current thinking is that given the improvements to all three, Mc has the upper hand because of the compete level and the competitiveness level necessary to be a shut down Dman, not to mention the nasty streak to puts it all together.
So will this kid play for the Rangers this year or will he "develop" in the AHL...
From Puck Daddy:
Best Fightin' Words: Defenseman Dylan McIlrath, drafted No. 10 overall by the New York Rangers, said his father played rugby, which is "where I get my nasty streak from." He's become more of a fighter as his career progressed. Does it have a place in the NHL? "Absolutely. If it's not fighting, it's the intimidation factor. I can do it well, and it's something I look forward to doing in the NHL."
McIlrath is REALLY good. He has a great shot, he loves to hit, he's nasty as hell, and he's solid on defense. As soon as he was called upon to step his game up, he did. I think he lost a teammate to injury, and one one went to the World Juniors. When this happened, his stats went from almost nothing to finishing with 24 points.
This is a very good pick.
I think Rangers fans will stop whining when they realize they may have just picked the next Phaneuf, Weber, Stevens, or Pronger. He may not reach 60-70 points, but should be more of a 40-50 point guy.
Another player he's similar to is Chara... but he'll probably be better than Chara.
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