Just a short drive away from Madison Square Garden came the next bit of mixed news for the New York Rangers on May 5.
The NHL Draft Lottery puts an organization’s future at the mercy and whims of bouncing ping-pong balls inside of a machine that can yield 1,001 possible combinations.
The Rangers landed the fifth overall pick in this June’s NHL Draft. They, however, did not get the third pick. The Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks both jumped ahead of the Rangers, whose 34-39-9 record had tied them for third-worst in the NHL with the Calgary Flames. Still, having that fifth pick will give the Rangers their highest selection since they chose Alexis Lafrenière first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft.
All of this news came some 48 hours after the Rangers announced sweeping changes with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. They fired Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny along with his assistant coaches, Paul Mara and Jamie Tardif. Hartford goaltending coach Brendan Burke survived as did Colin Downey.
And there it was – two key components of any successful NHL organization, the scouting work that goes into the NHL Draft and the years of subsequent efforts to turn that raw talent into NHL-ready players, were on full display for the Rangers.
Add filling those bench vacancies this offseason to a lengthy list of Hartford-related questions that the Rangers must answer this offseason. Hartford has long been a trouble spot for the Rangers, and that lack of success at the AHL level – both in terms of development and wins – have complicated matters in New York.
When the Rangers name Potulny’s replacement this offseason, that new hire will become the sixth head coach in Hartford since 2015. That year marked the last time that the Wolf Pack reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Since then, they have managed to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs just twice. This season, they finished dead-last in the AHL at 26-38-5-3.
Picking fifth means that the Rangers may well get themselves a player who can go directly to the NHL with little to no development time needed in Hartford. This year the Rangers will have an additional pick in the first-round (conditional), one in the second round, and four more in the third round (one of them conditional). They will wind down that work by choosing once in the fifth round, twice more in the sixth round, and then finishing with a seventh-round choice.
With that haul of picks, they absolutely must get this year right.
But it’s what they do in the years to follow – and with the picks that come long after that fifth overall slot – in Hartford that will help to determine whether the Rangers can dig themselves out of their own troubles. Strong work at the draft table is only the first step for any NHL team. The NHL’s top organizations all utilize strong, productive developmental programs at the AHL level
The Tampa Bay Lightning, for example, used years of bountiful production from their AHL development program to fuel a team that has been a top contender for the better part of the past 15 years. One goaltender after another has apprenticed with the Hershey Bears before going on to success with the Washington Capitals or elsewhere. Other NHL organizations are able to find players who have stagnated elsewhere, bring them into their development system, and turn them into NHL players. Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord had bounced around the Ottawa Senators organization before going to the Kraken in the 2021 NHL expansion draft. The Kraken invested two seasons in Daccord at the AHL level, and he has since gone on to become a workhorse NHL netminder. And the Pittsburgh Penguins have their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, starting the Eastern Conference Finals this week; three years ago, Pittsburgh had a rather thin prospect base and success at the AHL level had slowed considerably through the years.
Those are the developmental wins that every NHL team needs.
Ken Gernander, Keith McCambridge, Kris Knoblauch, Steve Smith, and Potulny all have taken turns trying to turn around the situation in Hartford. All respected head coaches, they all left Hartford largely still in search of those answers.
Knoblauch, of course, went off to the Edmonton Oilers one Sunday morning in November 2023. Smith, an assistant coach pressed into action, took over a few hours before an afternoon game at Providence that finished a 3-in-3 weekend. Before Knoblauch left, he had gotten the Wolf Pack into the Calder Cup Playoffs the previous spring for the first time in eight years. Smith followed but did not return after that season, which is when the Rangers ultimately turned to Potulny.
First-round picks, including top-10 selections, have passed through Hartford, fizzled, and eventually moved on to NHL organizations or elsewhere altogether. Lias Andersson went seventh overall in 2017. The next year the Rangers had three first-round selections — Vitali Kravtsov, K’Andre Miller, and Nils Lundkvist. Miller went directly to the NHL after two seasons at the University of Wisconsin and has gone on to a strong NHL career, though he is now with the Carolina Hurricanes. Andersson had a tumultuous run in the Rangers organization, eventually left, finished his NHL career with 110 games, and is with Swiss club Biel-Bienne. Kravtsov played 64 NHL games, moved between the KHL and North America multiple times, and has since settled back in Russia. Lundkvist split 2021-22 between New York and Hartford before being traded to Dallas, where he has become a regular defenseman for a perennial Stanley Cup Playoff team. Brennan Othmann, a forward taken 16th overall by the Rangers in 2021, was sent to the Calgary Flames at the NHL trade deadline.
It was not always this way in Hartford. The team qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs in 14 of their first 15 seasons. They won the Calder Cup in 2000. Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, J.T. Miller, Al Montoya, Dominic Moore, Cam Talbot, and Dale Weise are some of the young talents who came through Hartford on their way to NHL careers. Filip Chytil and Braden Schneider count as development victories. Brett Berard went from a fifth-round pick to a forward who earned games in New York. Net stalwart Igor Shesterkin got some key acclimation time in Hartford before moving on to the Rangers. So did Gabe Perreault, though he only needed 20 games in Hartford this season before sticking for good in New York. Defenseman Matthew Robertson along with forwards Jonny Brodzinski, Will Cuylle, and Adam Edstrom are Hartford alumni with the Rangers.
But the Rangers need much more.
There are promising talents in Hartford. Forwards Jaroslav Chmelař and Adam Sýkora have shown well at the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland this month. Defenseman Scott Morrow, a key part of the return in the Miller deal, remains a prospect. Rookie forward Brody Lamb showed well in his late-season turn with the Wolf Pack. Dylan Garand carried has carried the Wolf Pack on many nights through his first four pro seasons. He came to the Rangers organization with considerable success with both the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and at the IIHF World Junior Championship. He’s a competitive, confident goaltender who somehow has managed to remain that way even as the losses piled up in Hartford. It was only at the end of this season that he finally got a chance to make his NHL debut with the Rangers.
But it was not a competitive environment, especially as the season came increasingly unglued. They got drilled by the Charlotte Checkers at home, 7-1, on Jan. 28. Then the Checkers pummeled them in Charlotte, 9-0, on Feb. 16. They took a 7-0 shellacking at Providence on March 14. An 8-1 home loss to the Hershey Bears followed on April 4. If the Wolf Pack learned anything from those losses that they could take forward to avoid it happening again, they had a strange way of showing it. In all they won just four of their final 17 games (4-11-1-1), eventually missing the playoff cut by 12 points.
Some of the work has already started. Tanner Glass has taken over as New York’s director of player development. There is a lot more, however. Along with rebuilding the Hartford coaching staff, the Rangers will need to examine, and perhaps rework their base of Wolf Pack veterans. Leading scorer Trey Fix-Wolansky is an unrestricted free agent. Last season’s veteran signings had mixed results. Fix-Wolansky had a 31-goal season but also spent 121 minutes in the penalty box. Defenseman Derrick Pouliot was sent off to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Goaltender Spencer Martin came back from the KHL but struggled in Hartford. Justin Dowling is back, though he was limited to 46 games in Hartford. Captain Casey Fitzgerald is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.
However this summer proceeds, the Rangers need to make it a good one. They need to nail that first-round pick.
But the necessary work goes well beyond that selection. When rest of this year’s crop of draft picks eventually turn pro, they need a good landing spot in Hartford, and the efforts toward rebuilding the Wolf Pack must start this summer.
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