 |
Cold War Draft
By Rob Abruzzese on June 25th, 2007 8:03 PM |
This entry was posted
on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Hockey, Rangers Rumors & News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Cold War Draft: “Politics played a major role in this year’s NHL draft as the Rangers got what many considered to be the steal of the day when they selected a Russian forward at 17th overall.
With the Rangers selecting late in the first round they were not expected to make an impact in what many considered a weak draft. That all changed when they selected forward Alexi Cherepanov with their first pick.
Cherepanov was expected to go anywhere between 5th and 10th overall but slid all the way down to 17th amid fears that his Russian team would not release him to play in America. Many teams, not wanting to waste a top pick, passed up the opportunity to get the top-rated European in the draft.
Not only do the Rangers feel confident that Cherepanov will be released from his team, the Daily News has reported that a deal may already be in place. ‘In this case, we have an agreement with the club (Omsk) and Alexi has an agreement with the club that they will allow him to come over here after the season,’ said agent Jay Grossman.
Ranger’s head coach Tom Renney seemed more concerned with Alexi’s skill than the problems surrounding Russian players coming to America. ‘This is the best player we can get our hands on right now. Let’s do it. And we’ll do everything we can to get him here.’
The 18-year-old notched 18 goals and 11 assists in 46 games for Omsk this past season. The 18-goal mark is a league rookie record, eclipsing the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Evgeni Malkin.
With the Rangers’ second pick in the draft, they selected Canadian goalie Antoine Lafleur. This move is significant because it comes on the same week that Vezina trophy finalist Henrik Lundqvist expressed his interest in staying in New York. Lundqvist is looking for a long-term deal in the $5 million range which will keep him between the pipes at the garden for years to come.
With King Henrik pledging allegiance to his team and the 2nd round selection of Lafleur, it looks like the Rangers will make former first-round pick Al Montoya available.
(Via In the Dirt.)
