Shortly after 1:00pm CST, on Saturday, June 24, 2017, the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins selected William Reilly, a defenseman from RPI as the 217th player selected, bringing the 2017 Entry Draft to an end. With a few days of hindsight between me and the bowels of the United Center, the urge to spew out hot takes flushed away, it is time to analyze the strategies and selections employed by the league’s 31 teams.
The analysis will focus on the first five rounds, as it is clear to most long-time observers that the final two rounds are often taken up with long-shots, favours to regional scouts, among other reasons. I will, of course, call out some astute late picks, but will not judge a team for the names called in the final hour. The apocryphal story of Pekka Rinne, drafted as an eighth round after-thought in 2004 based mostly on his play in game warm-ups. Few other scouts would have seen him at all, and he has had a very good career, which is not yet over. For the most part, though, those picks have little statistical likelihood of having NHL careers and teams should not be judged there.
Each draft class will be graded using the 20-80 scale that we use in our player specific scouting reports throughout the site. In this context, a 50 is essentially an average grade in light of the picks the team had on draft day. A 20 would mean the draft is an unmitigated disaster while an 80 would be the best draft class of all time. As those things can only be truly seen in retrospect, most classes will trend towards 50 at this point, so pay attention to those we see as outliers.
Finally, all grades are incomplete. Actual winners and losers in this draft class will not be known until 2023 at the earliest, after those who will have “made it” will have played out their entry-level contracts. What I am looking at here is whether, knowing what we know now, the drafting team got good value.
| RD | # | CS | MCK | PLAYER | P | AGE | HT/WT | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 3-E | 17 | Lias ANDERSSON | C | 18 | 5-11/200 | HV 71 (Swe) |
| 1 | 21 | 11-E | 42 | Filip CHYTIL | C | 18 | 6-0/180 | PSG Zlin (Cze) |
| 4 | 123 | 199-N | Brandon CRAWLEY | D | 20 | 6-1/205 | London (OHL) | |
| 5 | 145 | 44-E | hm | Calle SJALIN | D | 18 | 6-1/180 | Ostersunds (Swe D1) |
| 6 | 157 | 50-E | Dominik LAKATOS | LW | 20 | 6-0/180 | Bili Tygri Liberec (Cze) | |
| 6 | 174 | 98-N | hm | Morgan BARRON | C | 18 | 6-2/200 | St. Andrew's (CHS-O) |
| 7 | 207 | NR | Patrik VIRTA | C | 21 | 5-10/180 | TPS Turku (Fin) |
| RD | # | PLAYER | P | TEAM | GP (W) | G (L) | A (T) | PTS (GA) | PIM (Sv%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Lias ANDERSSON | C | HV 71 (Swe) | 42 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 18 |
| 1 | 7 | HV 71 (Swe Jr) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 21 | Filip CHYTIL | C | PSG Zlin (Cze) | 38 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| 1 | 21 | Zlin (Cze Jr) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 123 | Brandon CRAWLEY | D | London (OHL) | 61 | 7 | 20 | 27 | 114 |
| 5 | 145 | Calle SJALIN | D | Ostersunds (Swe D1) | 34 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 26 |
| 5 | 145 | Timra (Swe 2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 145 | Timra (Swe Jr) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 157 | Dominik LAKATOS | LW | Bili Tygri Liberec (Cze) | 41 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 80 |
| 6 | 157 | Benatky nad Jizerou (Cze 2) | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 6 | 174 | Morgan BARRON | C | St. Andrew's (CHS-O) | 46 | 28 | 22 | 50 | 15 |
| 6 | 174 | Sioux City (USHL) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 7 | 207 | Patrik VIRTA | C | TPS Turku (Fin) | 49 | 14 | 12 | 26 | 22 |
New York Rangers – Draft Grade: 40
Lias Anderson (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/HHOF-IIHF Images)
With a big trade on the morning before the draft, sending Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to Arizona in exchange for controversial prospect Anthony DeAngelo and the 7th overall pick, the Rangers were in a position to make serious waves on the draft floor. After all, this team, which has traded away their first rounder far more often than they have traded to add first rounders, would be making their highest selection since 2004, when they popped Al Montoya with the 6th pick. Montoya has finally found a niche as a decent backup netminder, but that pick did not work out too well.
Filip Chytil (Photo by Andrea Cardin/HHOF-IIHF Images)
This time, the Rangers used that prestige pick on highly skilled Swedish forward Lias Andersson. Depending on who you talk to about Andersson, you might hear a scout praise his plus skating, or his plus shot, or his plus puck skills, or his plus hockey IQ. That is a lot of plusses. That said, there are few scouts who would talk about all of those things which is another way of pointing out that his game is inconsistent. He was a solid first rounder, but is a bit of a reach at seventh overall. We similarly felt that their “natural” first round pick, Czech forward Filip Chytil was a slight reach. Talented and performing admirably amongst men in the Czech Extraliga, he earns a lot of above-average grades, but lacks a stand-out skill. After those two, the Rangers stood pat until the fourth round and three of their remaining five picks were used on overagers, a sign that the team recognized the need to have more near-ready replacements available in the AHL.
Best value: Calle Sjalin, D, Ostersunds (5/145): Although Ostersunds is only the third-highest ranking league in Sweden, Sjalin was the top scoring U19 player in the circuit. His hockey smarts are his most notable trait and Sjalin will be moving up a grade to play in Allsvenskan with Leksands next year.
Biggest head-scratcher: Brandon Crawley, D, London (4/123): A rugged double-overager, Crawley at least can boast of his roots in Glen Rock, New Jersey, a town not far from the NJ-NY state line. More physical than skilled, it is hard to see more than seventh defenseman as his upside.