GROWTH OF OFFICE
Rangers development team doing it all to get deep prospect group to Broadway in position to excel
First of a two-part series.
IT is not about merely ensuring that the next wave arrives on Broadway as quickly as possible, but that when it does, the future will be sustainable and represent more than gift-wrapped boxes of shiny new toys that need to be returned the day after Christmas.
That is the objective of the development program first created by former president John Davidson and former general manager Jeff Gorton that has been enhanced since president-GM Chris Drury was sworn in back in May.
Jed Ortmeyer, in his fifth year as director of player development, oversees a staff featuring Tanner Glass and Matt Hunwick in North America and Antti Miettinen in Europe, who visit regularly with prospects who have not yet turned pro and with those playing for minor league affiliates, including Hartford.
The Rangers have hired a skating coach, the renowned Dawn Braid, who conducts monthly visits to the AHL Wolf Pack as well as with drafted prospects. The Wolf Pack have two full-time strength and conditioning coaches in John Sardos and Tim Sesko. A second assistant coach has been added in Hartford, with both Steve Smith and Casey Torres working with head coach Kris Knoblauch.
Jeff Malcolm has become the full-time goalie coach for the Wolf Pack while Jean-Ian Filetreault has been hired to work with goaltending prospects in the system and to scout draft-eligible netminders.
The infrastructure is in place. So is a stable of highly prized prospects within an organization that has eight players on the varsity at age 23 or younger. The development staff ’s mission is to deliver the next wave with all deliberate speed. It does not start in Hartford, but that is where much of the focus is directed with marquee prospects Braden Schneider, Zac Jones, Matt Robertson and Morgan Barron (among others) skating for the Wolf Pack.
“Tanner, Matt or myself, we spent pretty much a long weekend or a full week once a month with them in Hartford,” Ortmeyer told The Post in a wide-ranging telephone conversation. “We stagger it so that one of us is there most of the month depending on the schedule.
“We want to be another set of eyes and ears for the coaching staff. It’s important for the players to have a different voice every once in a while and to have a comfort level with someone other than the coaches to go over video and point something out.
“We’re in close contact with Kris, so it’s just another angle we can use and trying to cover all the bases and provide as many resources as we can for our guys,” said Ortmeyer, once upon a time was the right wing on the Blueshirts’ famed HMO Line with Ryan Hollweg on the left and Dom Moore in the middle. “If we can make them just 1 percent better, I think it’s worth it.
“And there is also the idea of guys who kind of had to earn it, who have been in the minors, who have been up and down and have experience with that like we all did, it’s relatable for the guys who are in Hartford and can show them there is a path to the NHL no matter what part of your career you’re in.”
Wingers Brennan Othmann, the 16th-overall selection of the 2021 first round, and Will Cuylle, drafted 60th overall a year earlier with the secondround pick acquired from the Kings in exchange for Lias Andersson, are young men in a hurry to New York, and both are having bang-up seasons in the OHL.
Cuylle is on his way to the World Juniors with Team Canada and Othmann should be there to accompany him but was unaccountably omitted from the invite list. These are the crown jewels of the organization’s junior-age prospects, though there are also others to track on their way to Manhattan.
Some are pros in Europe. Does the name “Vitali Kravtsov” ring a bell?
But so much of the pipeline’s strength is in Hartford, where Jones, Schneider and Robertson could each become the next man up if one is needed on the blue line on Broadway — three contending for spots on the Rangers’ roster that wouldn’t seem to have all that many organic openings. We know that they are not all going to play in New York even while they all sure should play in the NHL.
Once way back when, the Rangers had a system that included Andre Dupont, Steve Durbano,
Mike Robitaille, Ab DeMarco and Al Hamilton with the varsity packed on the blue line and the team ready for annual runs at the Cup. Hamilton was lost in an expansion draft, Dupont and Durbano were traded before they had a chance. These Rangers cannot afford to trade the wrong defensemen before they have a chance.
“I think they’re doing exactly what we need them to be doing,” Ortmeyer said of the Wolf Pack’s Big 3. “Over time, we’ve seen that being an NHL defenseman is a very challenging task.
“It is extremely valuable for us to have the depth in New York and the ability to let these younger prospects learn on the job, get confidence and play big minutes and in all situations in arguably one of the best league’s in the world in the AHL where they are playing against top competition every night and getting comfortable with the lifestyle of playing pro hockey.
“We’ve been able to do it a bit with guys in the past. Ryan Lindgren went down and played a bit. We had Neal Pionk there for a stretch,” Ortmeyer said. “We’re not forcing them or pushing them right into the NHL and expecting them to perform at MSG under the big spotlights at 19, 20 and 21 years old.
“We want to make sure that they are ready. We are building a foundation for them. There is definite value in letting our guys work on their deficiencies so that they are ready to go when the time comes in New York.”