Quick 2011 Ranger Draft Recap

Gordie Clark, Glen Sather and the rest of the Ranger brass went to Minnesota and came away with six more Future Blue. Yes, six. Sather swung a deal with St. Louis to get the Blues third round pick; he had to give up Evgeni Grachev, but given how often Grachev himself gave up on the ice, it is no big loss. And he swapped next year's sixth rounder with Nashville's this year.

While it is highly unlikely we will see any of the kids in the next two, three seasons, let's look at 'em anyways:

JT Miller - 1st round, 15th overall - It was a classy move by the Rangers to have Aaron Boogaard announce the selection, it was just disappointing that it was this kid. The Hockey News ranked him 59th just two months ago and there were several other players on his own team that would have been better selections - big Tyler Biggs, bible-thumping sparkplug scorer Rocco Grimaldi or goalie John Gibson. Miller committed to play at the University of North Dakota next year but doesn't plan on being there for long, which is not something you really should admit ahead of time. He is just another grinding north-south player with third line upside, a decent second or solid third but first? Perhaps after the Jessiman embarrassment the organization just wants to make sure their guy makes it to the NHL, no matter the role.

Steven Fogarty - 3rd round, 72nd overall - Grachev was a third round pick in 2008 and he brought us back a third round pick in 2011 - that's actually pretty good considering how inconsistent his play was in the AHL. Let's hope Seven Fogarty is steadier down the line. Fogarty looks pretty good in this video but it was against high school kids in Minnesota, so who knows? Looks like he has that Datsyukian timing and sneakiness to steal the puck and the ice sight to do good things with it.

Michael St. Croix - 4th round, 106th overall - A WHL scorer with flash but little grit but he will stand up for his teammates. St. Croix put up points on a bad Edmonton team and helped them to the playoffs. Unfortunately he disappeared once the postseason started, getting just one goal and no assists as the Oil Kings were swept by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the Red Deer Rebels.

Shane McColgan - 5th round, 134th overall - While he is willing to stand up for himself, McColgan is a skill guy first and foremost. A background in roller hockey (I like him already) has given him great hands and he has the speed to make them work in the new NHL. Kelly at Behind The Net spoke to him earlier this month after he had a good showing in the WHL playoffs.

Samuel Noreau - 5th round, 136th overall - After drafting a small skill guy in McColgan, they flipped the coin and took a dreadnought two picks later. Noreau is a defensive defenseman who has a tendency to lose his gloves and beat people up. He sounds like a McIlrath-kind of player without the upside.

Peter Ceresnak - 6th round, 172nd overall - Just the fifth Slovak selected in the draft, Ceresnak is several seasons away from the NHL, if at all. The boys at Copper & Blue did their due diligence and took at look at him thinking he could end up in Edmonton. They saw Jan Hejda in him but he sounds more like Radek Martinek to me, without the stink of Islander all over him.

Surprisingly Clark didn't select a single goaltender with any of the six picks to fill the one true hole in the organization. Tortorella doesn't trust Chad Johnson, the Whale relied on journeyman Dov Grumet-Morris even after Cam Talbot got healthy and Scott Stajcer couldn't seize the starting job on Owen Sound. But apparently Sather was convinced by Benoit Allaire that free agent signing Jason Missiaen is enough to supplement those three disappointments. Let's hope they can turn things around and that the injury bug doesn't strike again.