By Warren Kozireski —
New York traded both Cameron Talbot and forward Carl Hagelin in separate deals to both move up in the selection process and add draft picks in what became a busy day for the organization.
After trading up 18 spots, Seattle Thunderbird Ryan Gropp was the Rangers first selection—41st overall in the second round. The 6’2” left wing scored 30 goals and added 28 assists over 67 games this past season.
“His speed and his skill stood out,” Rangers Director of Player Personnel Gordie Clark said in an interview with blueshirtsunited.com. “He’s probably got one of the top-six guy’s talent, but there is a reason he dropped out of the first round. We did our homework on him, met with him and his coaches and we think he has huge upside.”
Swedish right wing Robin Kovacs was taken in the third round (62nd overall). He led the team and all junior age players in the second division with AIK in goals (17), points (28) and led his team with 63 penalty minutes.
“I am so happy; a really great teams and one of my favorite teams in the NHL so I’m really excited for this,” Kovacs said after being selected.
“I am a big offensive player and I love to score.”
Defenseman Sergey Zborovskiy hails from Moscow, but played this past season with Regina in the Western League where he scored three goals with 16 assists in 71 contests.
Finnish center Aleksi Saarela was the Rangers third of three third round picks. He scored six goals with six assists in 51 games with Assat in the Finnish League against much older competition.
In the fourth round, the Rangers went with the son of former Boston Bruin Doug Morrison, Brad who is a center with Prince George in the Western League. He scored 23 goals with 27 assists in 67 games in his second major junior campaign.
Daniel Bernhardt from Djurgarden, Sweden was a second fourth round pick. The 6’3” right wing sniper netted 26 goals in just 44 games with the junior team.
With their final selection in the seventh round, New York dipped into the USHL for Green Bay Gamblers goaltender Adam Huska. He split the season between Green Bay, the Slovakia Under-18 squad, the Four-Nations tournament and the Ivan Hlinka tournament playing in 35 games in total.
