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.