NHL Central Scouting snubs Rangers
‘It’s a little baffling,’ says coach, after no Blueshirts are among 450 prospects ranked for draft
It’s just a list. But the National Hockey League Central Scouting draft rankings carry weight.
The list, released last week, identifies about 450 of the top players and goalies in North America and Europe eligible for this year’s NHL draft, set to run July 7 to 8 in Montreal.
And there wasn’t a single member of the Kitchener Rangers on it.
“I think there are definitely guys that should be on there and deserve more recognition,” said Blueshirts general manager and bench boss Mike McKenzie. “But that’s the way it goes.”
McKenzie and the Rangers have bigger things on their brain right now — such as their Cinderella run in the playoffs.
The seventh-ranked team pulled off a first-round upset by beating the second-seeded London Knights in seven games, and currently trail 2-1in their best-of-seven Ontario Hockey League Western Conference semifinals against the top-ranked Windsor Spitfires. Game 4 goes Thursday at the Aud. Those feats only add to the confusion over the NHL Central Scouting snub.
“It’s a little baffling,” McKenzie said.
The skipper said it’s just one list. One opinion, if you will. He added the OHL has a similar ranking system for its draft, but that ultimately it’s the teams that choose the players and they often see things differently.
Same goes for the NHL.
That means players such as Rangers centre Joseph Serpa, who is currently fourth in the OHL playoff scoring race, and veteran Reid Valade, a solid two-way player with tons of speed, could still find their way into the draft.
Same goes for goalie Pavel Cajan, who has single-handedly stolen games in the regular season and playoffs, and Mitch Martin, who is serving notice he’s a power forward on the rise with every game he plays.
“I thought we would have expected to see some of those players,” said McKenzie. “When you just stack them up against other names on there (the list), not to disparage other players, but the production and what you see on the ice is right there, if not better than a lot of those players.”
Martin isn’t concerned with the pre-draft rankings.
“We try not to put too much stock into stuff like that,” said the winger, who has 11 points in 10 playoff games. “We’re here for the team and individually we’re putting up points and scoring goals so I think it’s hard for that stuff to go unnoticed. I think if we keep doing that in the playoffs, good things will happen.”
Serpa, who was named OHL player of the week on Monday, also remains focused on the task at hand. The Cambridge native is constantly trying to grow his game and has asked coaches to put him head-tohead against the best players on London and Windsor in the playoffs.
“I think I’m a little bit underrated,” he said. “I take that as a challenge. I wanted the (Antonio) Stranges and (Luke) Evangelistas on London and I want to raise the challenge and help our team by shutting down those top guys (in Windsor).”
In all, 63 OHL players made the NHL Central Scouting list.
For many of them, the season is over after their club was eliminated from, or failed to make, the playoffs.
Not so for the Rangers, who are still alive and fighting, despite feeling overlooked ahead of the draft.
“I think it says we do have a lot of really good players in that room,” said Martin.
“Clearly we’re doing something right.”