Draft has familiar feel for Rangers
Posted Jun 23, 2011 06:09:45 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
When two members of the Kitchener Rangers are selected tonight in the first round of the NHL entry draft, it will mark the 8th time in the franchise’s 48-year history that feat has been accomplished.
But in what could rightly be called a drought, it will mark only the second time in the past two decades.
“When you talk about the Landeskogs and the Murphys, they come to Kitchener to get to the next level. That’s our job,” says Rangers head coach and general manager Steve Spott. “We take a lot of pride in the way we play, in the way we prepare our players, and I think NHL scouts like players that play in Kitchener just because of the environment that they play in every Friday night.”
The Rangers first sent multiple first-round draft picks to the NHL in 1972, when Bill Barber (7th), Al Blanchard (10th) and Jerry Byers (12th) were selected. The team would duplicate the feat in 1974 with the first-round selection of three more players — Doug Risebrough (7th), Rick Chartraw (10th) and Dave Maloney (14th). Kitchener also holds the distinction of having the most players drafted from a single roster, as 13 Rangers were selected through 18 rounds of that 1974 draft.
The Rangers would again send multiple players to NHL teams in the first rounds of the 1979, 1982, 1985, 1989 and 2005 drafts. Brian Bellows, drafted second overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1982, is the highest Rangers draft pick in franchise history.
Interestingly, Rangers captain Gabriel Landeskog was touted as a top pick at various times throughout this past OHL season. At mid-season, Landeskog was ranked as the number one skater in North America by NHL Central Scouting. The last time the NHL draft was held in Minnesota, Swedish-born Mats Sundin was the first overall selection. Landeskog hails from Stockholm.
While Landeskog and slick defenceman Ryan Murphy will become the 8th Rangers duo to be picked in the first round of the NHL draft, there is also the potential that both players will be selected in the Top 10.
That feat is a little more rare, having only been accomplished three times before — in 1972 (Barber and Blanchard), 1974 (Risebrough and Chartraw) and 1982 (Bellows, 2nd and Scott Stevens, 5th).
And when it comes to Top 10 picks, Spott needs only look back one season to see that a high spot in the NHL draft could mean a quick end to a junior career. Taken 7th by the Carolina Hurricanes last June, Jeff Skinner and his 50 OHL goals departed for the big leagues after just two seasons in Kitchener.
Spott knows what’s on the line for Landeskog and Murphy tonight.
“I’m pretty confident Gabriel is going to have a chance to play (in the NHL) next year and then Ryan, I’ll tell you what, he’s going to make some general manager and some coach do a lot of thinking because I’m pretty confident he’s going to have a great camp wherever he goes,” states Spott. “Some coach is going to want to give him (Murphy) a look on their power play because of how good he really is.”
Such is the double-edged sword that comes with developing junior hockey players. The more competitive your club and the more high end talent you develop, the more likely it is that those players will spend less time with your junior team. The salary cap-driven NHL has seen to that.
But tonight, along with hockey fans across this city, Spott will be cheering for his players to be picked in the Top 10.
And he’ll feel a small measure of satisfaction for having played a role in that success.
