SBNation Mock Draft: Rangers Select Joel Armia

Every year the SBNation NHL Draft Hub does a full mock draft in which every site choses a player at their respective teams position. 

The New York Rangers, especially after their move to acquire Tim Erixon, will almost certainly look at a forward to help with their scoring depth in the farm system. Currently, the Rangers only have one true pure goal scorer in their system (Chris Kreider). Joel Armia automatically changes that. 

Armia scored 18 goals and add 11 assists for 29 points in 48 Finnish Elite League games. That's even more impressive when you consider the fact that Armia is all of 17-years-old playing with men much older and stronger than him. Most 17-year-old prospects playing in men's leagues don't break double digits in points and most certainly not goals. Armia did. 

His goal-scoring abilities have already been compared to Teemu Selanne's, and he could be exactly the type of risk/reward pick the Rangers might look to in the real draft at 15. Here is a scouting report from My NHL Draft: 

Joel Armia is a budding power forward already playing in the Finnish Elite League at 17 years old. 6'2, 185 lbs, Armia has an incredible shot and uses his size to his advantage on the cycle. Already drawing comparisons to Finnish great Teemu Selanne, Armia possesses a similar scoring touch, though not to the same degree. Although he underwhelmed during the World Junior Championship, the Finnish team collectively flamed out during the metal round. Though he is one of the top offensive players in the draft, Armia may not go straight to the NHL, as his defensive game needs rounding out. Armia projects to go in the from any where inside to top 10-the a pick in the mid teens.    

Another thing the Rangers lack in their farm system is a scoring threat with size. Armia also fixes this issue. He's lethal between the hashmarks with the puck, and in a men's league he is already cycling the puck in the tough areas on the ice, and winning those battles to boot. 

Some people have questioned his World Juniors play, but I don't mind his poor performance. As a 17-year-old playing in the Under-20s on a team that collectively didn't play well at all, I can understand him not having a good showing. He only posted a single assist in six games. In the Under-18s however, Armia scored four goals and added nine assists for 13 points in six games. 

Armia represents something the Rangers have very little of in their pipelines (although they have a plethora of young and talented defensemen) and he would help make them an even more dangerous team in the future. 

NHL Draft 2011: Rangers Trade Evgeny Grachev To Blues For 3rd Rounder; Draft Steven Fogarty

Heading into Day 2 of the NHL draft -- a total of six rounds -- the New York Rangers had one pick in the fourth round, and two in the fifth round. In a draft that analysts classified as shallow, that didn't seem to be an issue.

Early on in the day, however, the Blueshirts traded Russian forward Evgeny Grachev to the St. Louis Blues for their third-round pick, No. 72 overall. With this pick, the Rangers selected a high school center from Edina, Minn., Steven Fogarty.

Like their first-round selection, J.T. Miller, Fogarty is a guy with some size at 6-foot-2, 192 pounds. The 18-year-old had 23 goals and 17 assists for his high school team and will play for the Chicago Steel of the USHL, then attend Notre Dame, according to Andrew Gross of the Bergen Record. Fogarty seems like a player who will need a few years of of seasoning before transitioning up the levels to the NHL, and his progress at Notre Dame will dictate that.

Per Minnesota Hockey Prospects:

Plays a physical brand of hockey, grinding it out on the boards and getting dirty in front of the net. Bullies his way around the ice, excelling at playing a power game. Has the ability to finish in tight and pick up his fair share of garbage goals. Has pretty good hands for a big guy and can stick handle with the best of them. Passing could use a bit more touch but this is not a glaring weakness. Does not have elite speed but is a mule on his skates.

Fogarty is a balanced two-way player that is willing to play blue-color hockey.

This is the type of player the Rangers and director of player personnel Gordie Clark covet. Someone who can play two-way hockey, is strong on his skates and isn't afraid to get dirty.

Grachev, on the other hand, was a player who stormed out of the gates after the Rangers drafted him 75th overall in the 2008 draft. He had 80 points (40 goals, 40 assists) in the OHL his first year as an 18-year-old, but just never seemed to to feel comfortable when he made to the jump to the AHL, netting just 28 points in a full season in 2009 and 38 points last year in 73 games. Grachev did get a look last season for eight games with the big club, but never really showed much of anything. Grachev was said to have asked for a trade a year ago because he didn't like the system the Rangers were playing, and general manager Glen Sather tried to trade him throughout the year, but the Blues were the only team who wanted him.

John Tortorella has done a great job mentoring the Rangers' young talent -- just look at someone like Artem Anisimov whom the coach has slowly prodded along -- and Grachev obviously was not only struggling to show any kind of offensive game, but had some "battle" problems as well.

NHL Draft 2011: New York Rangers Take Jonathan Miller At No. 15

Heading into the 2011 NHL draft, it was clear that the New York Rangers would be targetting a forward. WIth a stud goaltender and a solid core of defensemen, the Blueshirts needed a skilled player up front. Luckily for them, that desire came true, as they selected center Jonathan Miller with the No. 15 pick in the draft.

In the hours leading up to the draft, there were rumblings that the Rangers would actively seek to trade down in the draft if they weren't sold on a particular player. It wasn't a draft too top heavy with difference makers, according to many scouts and analysts.

But director of player personnel Gordie Clark and the rest of the Blueshirts' scouting department must have been sold on Miller, an 18-year-old from the United States National Team Development Program in the United States Hockey League, who had 13 points at the World Championships, though 37 (with 26 assists) during the regular season.

The 6-foot-1, 198 pound center is committed to the University of North Dakota for next season, and is a two-way player with a very unrefined offensive game.

ESPN.com's NHL Draft guru Gare Joseph had this to say about Miller:

Intensity and determination to go along with a solid base of skating and skill makes Miller exciting to watch. At international tournaments, he showed he can produce among his peers and although there is upside to his offensive game, he is an attractive forechecking forward who will add secondary scoring.

Clark compares Miller to some familiar names: "like a Dubi, or Mike Richards. He plays every shift, expends everything he's got." He is also a believer in his scoring ability and said the team had options to move down if Miller was not there at 15. Some names others have also thrown around is Ryan Kesler, Chris Drury. 

Center definitely targets a position of need for this team and fits into what this era of Rangers is selling -- max-effort, two-way hockey. He'll definitely need several years of development and it wouldn't be a shocker to see him go to school for a few years, though the Rangers will probably make a push to get him in their minor leagues.

2011 NHL Draft: Rangers Have Their Favorites Going In

With the 2011 NHL Entry Draft just hours away, we know little more now than we did a few weeks ago.

What we do know, thanks to an interview Gordie Clark had with Andrew Gross earlier in the week, is that the Rangers draft war room has a few prospects in mind they want to see fall to 15, and if they don’t they will likely trade down for a second round pick.

Who those targeted players are is anyones guess, but a few beat reporters have speculated on the subject.

Andrew Gross believes the Rangers have three players in mind, including a defenseman:

C Mark McNeill: The 6-foot-2, 201-pound native of Langley, B.C. had 32 goals and 49 assists in 70 games for Prince Albert (Western Hockey League) but his rising stock and size could mean he’s gone before Rangers pick

D Jamieson Oleksiak: A native of Toronto now playing at Northeastern, his 6-7, 244-pound frame and on-ice poise may be hard to resist, though his offensive game (three goals, nine assists in 34 games) is not yet developed

C Mark Scheifele: The 6-2, 182-pound native of Kitchener, Ont. had 22 goals and 53 assists in 66 games for Barrie (Ontario Hockey League) and his six goals and two assists led the forwards for Team Canada at the 2011 Under-18 World Championships.

The Rangers’ interest in McNeill and Scheifele is obvious. The Rangers have very few playmaking centers in their system, although Derek Stepan is the best playmaker on the team right now and figures to be in the future as well, and both of those players can score goals as well.

If the Rangers don’t see what they like at 15, they will trade down and acquire a second round pick, they used the two they had in this draft to grab Tim Erixon from the Calgary Flames a few weeks ago.

If that happens expect guys like Tyler Biggs, Matt Puempel or even Nicklas Jensen. Obviously the Rangers would love to get into the second round, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they got the player they wanted at 15 but also traded for a second round pick as well. It’s just pure speculation on my part, but it seems like something that Glen Sather might pull off.

Then there’s Joel Armia (Blueshirt Banter’s selection in the 2011 NHL Mock Draft), the high-ceilling Finnish player who opened eyes with 18 goals in a men’s league as a 17-year-old this past season.

In the end, we don’t know any more today than we did a few weeks ago. And with Clark at the helm, I’m OK with that.

NHL Draft 2011: Trading Down A Possibility For Sather, Rangers

With the 2011 NHL Entry Draft just days away more and more information is pouring out over the New York Rangers draft strategy.

And one of the ideas that has been tossed around was the possibility Glen Sather trades down on draft day if the prospects Gordie Clark and the Rangers are targeting aren’t available.

Obviously the main goal of trading down would be to acquire another pick in the second round. The Rangers lack any second and third round picks in this year’s draft; but used their two second round picks on Tim Erixon – a player who Clark told ANdrew Gross would have went eighth or ninth overall if he re-entered the draft.

From Andrew’s story:

Clark did not rule out making a trade to acquire some extra picks, particularly in the second round, if when it comes time to pick at No. 15 there’s not one of their main targets left on the board. Unlike last year, when the Rangers went into the draft knowing they wanted to take bruising defenseman Dylan McIlrath at No. 10, Clark said they had "no real plan like that" but, if all things were equal, he’s probably leaning toward taking a forward.

Don’t expect a trade (if Sather does end up trading down) to happen until players start coming off the board. With a plethora of defensive talent in the top-15 picks, there is a possibility that teams will snatch them up early, allowing a quality player to fall into the Rangers’ lap.

Either way, it will be an interesting day at the draft.

NHL Draft 2011: Rangers Will Have Options At 15

One of the only consolation prizes of finishing the regular season without a Stanley Cup run is a higher pick during the NHL Entry Draft. And while the New York Rangers aren't picking in the top 10 (New York held the 10th overall pick last year, which they used on Dylan McIlrath) this year, there will be tons of talent on the board when it's their turn to be calling names at the podium. 

The Rangers brass has all but guaranteed the team would be looking at an offensive player rather than another defensemen. And luckily for New York, there will be a plethora of offensive options on the table when Glen Sather makes his pick. 

While moving up, or even moving down in the draft, is also a possibility, for the purpose of this article we will assume the Rangers do neither. 

Although you can never put too much stock into a mock draft (you never know how the board is going to look on draft day) you can generally get a feel for a prospect's "sweet spot" but averaging where they fall in all the mock drafts.

For the Rangers guys like Mark McNeill, Joel Armia, Matt Puempel, Tomas Jurco and Vladislav Namestnikov are just a few of the prospects who might be on the board when the Rangers make their selection at 15. The common theme? All those players are pretty adept at putting the puck into the back of the net. 

Armia is the best of the bunch in goal scoring, and he might have the highest goal scoring potential in the draft, which makes him an automatic target for the Rangers. Of course, that also makes him a target for everyone picking before the Rangers, so there is a chance he might not fall. 

McNeill offers a young tough goal scorer who also has some fantastic vision. He was Blueshirt Banter's first option in the SBNation mock draft, but he was taken by the Calgary Flames. Jurco is the only real gambreaker in the draft, but consistency is an issue with this game.

But no matter how you slice it, there will be offensive options for the Rangers at 15.