Rangers shake things up

After the 2016-17 season concluded with a postseason exit in the second round, the question surrounding the Rangers was, would its roster change from the past season? And, if it did, what would change?

Leading up to the 2017 National Hockey League Entry Draft (June 23-24) at United Center in Chicago, parts of the question were answered.

New York parted ways with veteran defenseman Dan Girardi on June 14. Girardi was a warrior on the ice. He played key minutes against the opponent’s best players and sacrificed his body to block shots, to go along with his physical play in the defensive end.

On the morning of day one of the draft, the Blueshirts made a deal that sent another member of their core away from New York. The team dealt center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh overall selection.

Rangers Draft Picks

Lias Andersson | Round 1 (7th overall), C, 6-0, 200, HV71 (Swedish Hockey League). Andersson scored nine goals and registered 10 assists with a plus-21 rating in the 2016-17 season. His plus/minus rating was eighth in the SHL. The 18-year-old has international experience. He netted three goals in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship with Team Sweden.

Filip Chytil | Round 1 (21st overall), C, 6-2, 192, PSG Zlin (Czech Extraliga). Chytil tallied eight points (four goals and four assists) in 38 games last season. The 17-year-old ranked second in goals, points and games played among players who were 18 or younger.

Brandon Crawley | Round 4 (123rd overall), D, 6-1, 205, Glen Rock, N.J., London (OHL). Crawley scored seven goals and 20 assists during 2016-17. The 20-year-old won the 2015-16 OHL Championship and the Memorial Cup with the London Knights.

Calle Sjalin | Round 5 (145th overall), D, 6-1, 179, Ostersund (HockeyEttan). Sjalin recorded 15 points (five goals, 10 assists), which led all players 18 or younger.

Dominik Lakatos | Round 6 (157rd overall), C, 6-1, 200, Liberec (Czech Extraliga). Lakatos tallied 10 goals and 12 assists during the 2016-17 season. In 2015-16, the 20-year-old was named the Czech Extraliga Rookie of the Year and won the Czech Extraliga championship.

Morgan Barron | Round 6 (174th overall), C, 6-2, 200, St. Andrew’s College (CISAA). Barron logged 34 goals and 26 assists during 2016-17 and won the CISAA title.

Patrik Virta | Round 7 (207th overall), C, 5-11, 180, TPS (Liiga). Virta recorded 14 goals and 12 assists last season. The 21-year-old won the Saku Koivu Award (best forward) and the Teemu Selanne Award (best player) in 2014-15 in Liiga’s junior league.

The trade helped the team in two areas. It freed up space in the salary cap and it added a young right-handed defenseman who can come in and make contributions in the years to come.

“It was an opportunity for us,” Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton said in a press conference at the draft. “Obviously, we have some salary cap issues, so we had that to worry about, and the opportunity to go to the top 10.”

With the chance to improve the team for the future, it lost a leader. For Stepan, the moments and memories are endless. The center had been a staple in the team’s lineup since he entered the league during the 2010-11 season. It started with a hat trick in his first game against the Buffalo Sabres and continued to his overtime game-winner against the Washington Capitals in 2015 that sent the Blueshirts to Eastern Conference finals. Like Girardi, he helped New York make three Eastern Conference finals (2012, 2014, 2015) and the Stanley Cup Final (2014). This season, he ranked second on the team with 38 assists and third on the team with 55 points.

Raanta proved, when given the opportunity, he can thrive as a No. 1 goalie as Henrik Lundqvist’s understudy. The netminder stepped up when the starter was hurt or needed a game off.

But with the loss of production and veteran leadership, the Rangers were given the opportunity to get younger and chose to.

In acquiring DeAngelo, the team improved its defensive unit, which has played numerous games and has some big salaries against the cap. The Sewell, N.J., native was selected 19th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2014 draft. The 21-year-old scored five goals and nine assists in 39 games with the Coyotes in his first year in the NHL last season.

“Anthony DeAngelo is a player we liked and a certain player we don’t have,” Gorton said. “He is a guy who can run a power play. He’s young and can really skate. He can do a lot of things that we need, and the way the game is played today, we like him going forward.”

The trade also provided the Blueshirts with the chance pick in the top 10 for the first time since 2010, when the team selected Dylan McIlrath 10th overall. It also was the first time the Rangers picked in the first round since they drafted Brady Skjei 28th overall in 2012.

With the newly acquired pick and their own selection, New York drafted a pair of centers on the first day. Seventh overall, the Rangers selected 18-year-old Lias Andersson from Smogen, Sweden. Andersson played for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. Last season, he tallied 19 points (nine goals and 10 assists) in 42 games.

After he was selected, he told reporters about his game. “I am a two-way center,” Andersson said. “Love to change games and score big goals. I want to be a leader, so I am a leader.”

With the 21st pick, New York picked Filip Chytil. The 17-year-old played in Czech Extraliga with PSG Zlin, where he scored four goals and recorded four assists. He was one of 21 players under the age of 18 in the league.

When asked about his game, Chytil told the media, “My biggest strengths are skating, my hands and my vision. I am strong on the puck.”

On the second day of the draft, the Rangers didn’t pick in the second or third rounds and traded the 102nd overall pick to the San Jose Sharks for the 123nd and 174th picks. With the 123rd pick, the Blueshirts picked defenseman Brandon Crawley from Glen Rock, N.J., and then selected defenseman Calle Sjalin 145th.

New York, which picked five centers and two defenders in total, selected center Dominik Lakatos 157th overall and center Morgan Barron 174th overall in the sixth round. It then concluded the draft by drafting Patrik Virta 207th overall in the seventh round.

The team used the draft to get younger, free up cap space and build its organizational depth. The Rangers addressed its need for centers and grabbed a top-10 selection. They also chose two defensemen to build the system on the back end.

The weekend served as the beginning for the prospects drafted, but also served as the end for some other players. New York traded an important member of its core and started to get younger. The deal, along with parting ways with Girardi, showed the franchise is choosing to close a chapter. Though two important pieces have left the Big Apple, the team still has a number of players who have contributed to the team’s success.

With the loss of Stepan and Oscar Lindberg, who was taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, the Rangers left the draft needing to fill holes at center. But the additional cap space can help fill that void.

The Blueshirts were active at the draft and are trying to build off recent success to compete with hockey’s best. DeAngelo will look to come in and make an impact during the 2017-18 season, while for the draftees, their journeys have just begun.

Now the Rangers head into free agency and will look to fill gaps and start the process in completing their roster for the start of training camp, in preparation for the upcoming season and work to build a team to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Like the weeks leading up to the draft, there are still some questions. But the answers will come soon enough.