By Warren Kozireski – NY Hockey OnLine Magazine —
After trying with a few teams to move up in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, the Rangers waited until the third round for their first addition. Their first rounder went to Arizona in the Keith Yandle deal and their second ended up with Chicago via Carolina from the Eric Staal move.
With their third round choice, the Rangers took massive defenseman Sean Day from Mississauga of the Ontario Hockey League.
The 6’3”, 200 lb. left shot scored six goals with 16 assists over 57 games with the Steelheads. He was the fourth player in history (John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid) to receive an exemption and play in the OHL at 15 years old, but his development stalled.
But the Rangers brass felt he was still worth a gamble in the third round.
“It’s amazing; I think just being picked by any team is awesome, but hearing your name finally called is awesome, Day said. “I can tell that they (New York) wanted me and that’s the most important thing to go to a team that wants you and wants to develop you. I saw that when they picked me four seconds in and they didn’t think about it.”
“I’ve improved from last year down to 12% body fat down from 19% last year and I can my skating is improving so hopefully I can fit into their style of play and bring something new that they don’t have.
“Personally I think another year of juniors for mental development and just being a dominant force at the junior level before hopping into the pros is huge.”
The Rangers stayed with defense in the fourth round with Tarmo Reunanen from Finland 98th overall. He is a puck-moving defenseman who missed half of last season and international play due to injury.
Timothy Gettinger from Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL was their fifth rounder. The 6’5”, 205 lb. forward netted 17 goals with 22 assists in 60 games in his second year of junior hockey.
The Rangers had two sixth round selections and took center Gabriel Fontaine 171st overall. The QMJHL product from Rouyn-Noranda had a career-best 20 goal season with 25 assists and added a6 playoff points in helping the Huskies reach 20 games into the postseason.
Their second sixth rounder was 6’ 3” goaltender Tyler Wall, who is committed to the University of Massachusetts this fall.
The Rangers final selection in the seventh round was Vancouver Giant (WHL) forward Ty Ronning—son of former Canuck and Nashville Predator among others teams Cliff Ronning. The 5’9” right wing had a breakout campaign in 2015-2016 scoring 31 goals with 28 assists in 67 games in his third major junior season.
After the draft, the Rangers announced the acquisition of defenseman Nick Holden from Colorado for a 2017 fourth round draft pick.
General Manager Jeff Gorton talked with the media after the draft.
“We didn’t have a first round pick; we didn’t have a second round pick so I can’t stand here and say we’re going to have a player who is going to play for us next year, but we’re encouraged by some of the picks we made.
As for any surprise that Day was still on the board in the third round, Gorton said, “not necessarily. The guys have done their homework and we have done a lot of research on the player and talked to everyone around him. I think we kind of knew that it was a possibility similar to the (Anthony) Duclair in a lot of ways. He was falling and there were supposed reasons, so you do your homework and you hope you’re right.”
