The last Ranger draft party I went to was inside the Garden on June 26th, 1999. Why do I remember so precisely? Because I was talking to Dan Cloutier when team officials came to take him away. He was pulled off the floor and informed that he had just been traded - along with Niklas Sundstrom, a 1st and a 3rd round pick - to Tampa Bay Lightning for their first round pick. Which the Rangers then promptly wasted on one-dimensional sniper/slacker Pavel Brendl. I stuck around until they drafted Jamie Lundmark ninth and left, pissed off and utterly disappointed.
Just in case you were wondering, the Rangers had nine more selections in the draft and not one of them played a single NHL game. Because it is fun to look at who we missed: Tim Connolly was picked right after Brendl, Barret Jackman was picked 17th, Nick Boynton 21st and Marty Havlat 26th. That draft also featured Douglas Murray (241st from Apple Core here in NY, geez), Henrik Zetterberg (210th), Martin Erat (191st), Ryan Malone (115th), Chris Kelly (94th), Mike Comrie (91st), Ryan Miller (138th), Craig Anderson (77th) and Stanley Cup runner-up Mike Leighton (165th, by Chicago of all teams). But no, this was not good ole Glen's mess up, this was Neil Smith's final draft as Ranger GM. No wonder he got canned.
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