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Originally Posted by bleeding blue
Why would we need to draft another goaltender? Blackie is just entering his 20s and is already NHL material. Lundquist is supposedly good enough to be an NHLer soon. And then we have the AHL MVP. So we have 3 damn good young goaltenders, that is two more than most other organizations. Where is the need for another goaltender? And even if we wanted another one, why the hell would we waste a 2nd rounder on one? Goaltending is the strength of our prospect pipeline right now, those 2nds could and should be used to shore up our forwards and defenseman. I'm sorry, the notion of drafting a goaltender in the second round is just proposterous.
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Some rebuttal points.
-I'm well aware of the strengths of our goaltending prospects and agree that we don't have an immediate need for a young keeper. However, outside of prodigies who are NHL-ready in their teens, goalies take time to develop. For example...
LaBarbera-6 seasons since his draft year (98: 3rd Round)
Lundqvist-4 seasons since his draft year (00:7th Round)
Blackburn-3 seasons since his draft year (01: 1st Round)
A goalie that we take will take a few years to develop. By the time they are NHL or even AHL ready, the Three Amigos will be in their mid-to-late 20s and will no longer be considered prospects. (And all 3 of them will certainly not be Rangers property by then.) Someone has to be up-and-coming in the minors.
-In a normal year, I wouldn't suggest taking a goalie with a 2nd rounder. 3rd-4th-5th rounds are normally good enough spots to find decent goalie prospects. However, since we have 4-5 2nd round picks this year (and I'm not sure how the Rangers stand with mid/late round picks. Are we missing our 3rd?), I thought we could spare a 2nd for a goalie IF the right choice presents itself.
-Draft BPA not need. If Marek Schwarz is somehow still on the board at #26, the Rangers are going to take him regardless of how many young goalies we have.
-Like I said, we took a goalie with a 6th rounder in 2003, none in 2002. From 1997 to 2001, the Rangers took at least 1 goalie every year in the 1st through 5th rounds (and a few in the later rounds as well), which is we we have 3 good young goalies now.
If the only goalies we draft in the next year or two are late round afterthoughts, the well will eventually run dry.
