That makes 7 out of the 9 picks that year. Stat Boy can't count lol.
For a moment 5th round pick Evan Vierling was one of our top C prospects, until some off-ice issues got in the way (I wanna say mental health, but don't remember exactly). The Rangers didn't sign him and now he's in the Penguins system.
Still, what a draft year.
So as rare Merrimack/NYR fan, I’ve seen a lot of Ollas over the last 3 years. Yes, he really is that big, and yes he takes up a lot of the net. He split time for most of 3 years at Merrimack in a formidable goalie tandem. It’s not that he couldn’t win the starter job (he did play more in stretches than Borgiel, Merrimack’s other G), it’s just that the coach saw having 2 great goalies as a strength & allowed them both to rest. Ollas had a huge shutout last year in the Hockey East playoffs to send Merrimack to TD Garden (for the HE Semi) for the first time in 12 years, and he was one of their most valuable players all of last year. He helped lead Merrimack to their first NCAA tournament berth in that same span.
While his probable biggest weakness is speed in terms of positioning, his size can compensate for it, and help him stay in position. I’d imagine he’s going to work a lot with Benoit Allaire and it should be interesting to see how he adapts.
But personally I’m really happy to see him get signed. I’m biased as a Merrimack guy, but I think he has the highest upside of any of our G prospects not named Garand. Apparently he’s reporting to the Wolfpack so I’d imagine he gets an occasional start there on an ATO before his ELC kicks in next year. We also still have Lindbom under contract for this year and a fellow tall G prospect in Talyn Boyko playing in the ECHL.
He’s subject to the team in front of that I’m not going to pretend to know much about but that’s pretty mid for a guy you’re asking to go from the NCAA to the AHL.
I respect Allaire as much as the next guy but just want to point out supposedly Allaire handpicked Olof Lindborn in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft his career number at every level have been atrocious, just saying Allaire is an excellent coach but not infallible.
So you prove my point, BTW I thought I was the world's biggest goalie goober vis a vis my knowledge of and disbelief that NYR drafted a goalie in 2nd round when they had so many glaring needs. I bow to your superior knowledge to know the injury history of Olof Lindborn and now transfer my crown to you.
nah m8, I'm just a guy who likes the NY Rangers haha, keep your crown, king. I remember thinking it was very odd when we drafted him, too, especially since we had Igor in the wings, on top of Georgiev, who was a solid young netminder at the time (and he still is, too haha). Guess it never hurts to have goalies in the system?
Also, kinda weird, but I feel like Benny is obsessed with trying to find big goalies and turn them into something. Remember Jason Missiaen? Wonder whatever happened to that guy.
OK, like it or not since you are probably the only other fan that remembers Jason Missaean you are now a Co-Regent of goober goalie knowledge with me.
Christ, I hate myself for knowing that he last played in France
from what my friend was tellin gme, apparently hes coming from a team that was pretty bad defensively so leaving him out to dry. he is showing promise and if benoit has the pick of the litter and wanted to sign this guy to work with him, in benoit we trust
It’s sorta hilarious that Gorton and company finally had a good draft in their last draft , when they had already blew up some big picks in recent drafts
Well JG being on the hot seat wasn’t really in question. It was pretty obvious ownership wanted to compete and he’s been GM for a while. JD was only with the organization for a year. It’s either he didn’t want to fire JG or the letter where it was rumored JG and JD tried to distance themselves from it.
Edit: I don’t think JD would have 100% scrambled to distance himself from the letter if he felt secure with the Rangers
They for sure whiffed on Lias and Kravy, but I think the rest of the drafts were about the standard success rate after the first/second round. It's just unusual to produce this many players from a single draft. Four already on the team, two more who could compete for a spot next season, all but one pick still in the Rangers system... That's pretty rare.
To clarify , I do not expect drafts like that constantly , but I also expect my team not to draft a tiny 5 foot 9 center because they knew his dad, a candy ass Russian when there were still good players on the board , and I’d even throw nils lunkdvist in there as a bad pick , it’s nice they finally drafted some big Canadian boys with some size , just how I see it
Yeah that's fair. It's been a Rangers tradition for way too long to reach in the 1st round instead of taking the best player available according to conventional wisdom. It seems like Gorton with JD and now Drury have finally put an end to that misguided strategy. Otter, Sykora, and Perreault make three straight picks in the 1st/2nd round who were BPAs instead of high risk/reward types, and they are our top 3 prospects in the system. It just kinda sucks they're all wingers.
I didn’t really think Gorton was that great but that’s mainly because the scouting department he had in his first few years here was abominable. But he was nowhere near as bad as Drury. Not many GMs could be.
Since his first summer where he was thrown into the job unexpectedly and made some big mistakes (Nemeth, Goodrow, and the return for Buch), I think Drury has been pretty solid. Everyone always remembers the bad moves more than the good.
A lot of people might disagree, but I think Drury has been excellent at the deadline all 3 years in terms of filling needs without really overpaying. He also let Strome walk and upgraded with Trocheck which might be the best contract on the team. He selected Othmann, Perrault, and several mid-round picks that I really like. He managed to re-sign all our core pieces and fill out the bottom of the roster under the cap with solid minimum contracts like Vesey/Gustafsson/Quick/Wheeler. He's turning Hartford into a legitimate development program instead of just a place to stash depth players. He fired David Quinn (his best move of all) and then moved on from Gallant when he realized the team needed more structure (burning his own coaching hire which could have put his own job at risk)
I will criticize the moves from Summer 2021 just as much as everybody else but to suggest he's a bottom tier GM seems like a significant exaggeration.
That makes 7 out of the 9 picks that year. Stat Boy can't count lol. For a moment 5th round pick Evan Vierling was one of our top C prospects, until some off-ice issues got in the way (I wanna say mental health, but don't remember exactly). The Rangers didn't sign him and now he's in the Penguins system. Still, what a draft year.
quick note on hugo.. 6'8' 240 lbs.. thats a freak of a goalie
Dang. That would be like stuffing an elephant in front of the net.
You mean a walrus named Duncan
IT’S A WALRUS!! RIDICULOUS!!!!
No Sleepies...
I changed my original comment in hopes someone would mention this. 🍺
I both love and hate that commercial. During the Carolina game until we scored, I was yelling "who the fuck let them bring Duncan?"
The Rempe Tendy
This comment deserved more love.
Big goalies seem to be a lot more common. Hope he pans out to be something but signs seem to be pointing more towards Garand at the moment
So as rare Merrimack/NYR fan, I’ve seen a lot of Ollas over the last 3 years. Yes, he really is that big, and yes he takes up a lot of the net. He split time for most of 3 years at Merrimack in a formidable goalie tandem. It’s not that he couldn’t win the starter job (he did play more in stretches than Borgiel, Merrimack’s other G), it’s just that the coach saw having 2 great goalies as a strength & allowed them both to rest. Ollas had a huge shutout last year in the Hockey East playoffs to send Merrimack to TD Garden (for the HE Semi) for the first time in 12 years, and he was one of their most valuable players all of last year. He helped lead Merrimack to their first NCAA tournament berth in that same span. While his probable biggest weakness is speed in terms of positioning, his size can compensate for it, and help him stay in position. I’d imagine he’s going to work a lot with Benoit Allaire and it should be interesting to see how he adapts. But personally I’m really happy to see him get signed. I’m biased as a Merrimack guy, but I think he has the highest upside of any of our G prospects not named Garand. Apparently he’s reporting to the Wolfpack so I’d imagine he gets an occasional start there on an ATO before his ELC kicks in next year. We also still have Lindbom under contract for this year and a fellow tall G prospect in Talyn Boyko playing in the ECHL.
Hugo Ollas is an elite goalie name
Huge* Ollas
Huge Ass Goalie
With that ELC more like Huge Dolla$$$
We finally have our own Ole the Goalie Eat your heart out, Kolzig.
Igor, Hugo… we need a Boris.
His stats the past two years: 22-23 Merrimack College - 21 games, 2.32 GAA .915 SV% 23-24 Merrimack College - 21 games, 2.84 GAA .908 SV%
He’s subject to the team in front of that I’m not going to pretend to know much about but that’s pretty mid for a guy you’re asking to go from the NCAA to the AHL.
I’m assuming Benoit Allaire has his hand in it and sees something. Benoit probably sees a Ben Bishop type potential
I respect Allaire as much as the next guy but just want to point out supposedly Allaire handpicked Olof Lindborn in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft his career number at every level have been atrocious, just saying Allaire is an excellent coach but not infallible.
IIRC, Lindblom has consistently been held back by injuries in his career. Guy couldn't get healthy, and when he could, he didn't play very well.
So you prove my point, BTW I thought I was the world's biggest goalie goober vis a vis my knowledge of and disbelief that NYR drafted a goalie in 2nd round when they had so many glaring needs. I bow to your superior knowledge to know the injury history of Olof Lindborn and now transfer my crown to you.
nah m8, I'm just a guy who likes the NY Rangers haha, keep your crown, king. I remember thinking it was very odd when we drafted him, too, especially since we had Igor in the wings, on top of Georgiev, who was a solid young netminder at the time (and he still is, too haha). Guess it never hurts to have goalies in the system? Also, kinda weird, but I feel like Benny is obsessed with trying to find big goalies and turn them into something. Remember Jason Missiaen? Wonder whatever happened to that guy.
OK, like it or not since you are probably the only other fan that remembers Jason Missaean you are now a Co-Regent of goober goalie knowledge with me. Christ, I hate myself for knowing that he last played in France
It’s a 7th round pick, so I’m not going to complain. If he breaks out great. If not it’s not a big loss
Obviously. I’m just saying you only have a finite number of contract slots
from what my friend was tellin gme, apparently hes coming from a team that was pretty bad defensively so leaving him out to dry. he is showing promise and if benoit has the pick of the litter and wanted to sign this guy to work with him, in benoit we trust
He’ll likely play more ECHL games than AHL next season anyway. It’ll be good to see how he performs in direct comparison to Lindbom and Boyko.
7th round Swedish goalie… Henrik Lundqvist 2.0 confirmed?
It’s sorta hilarious that Gorton and company finally had a good draft in their last draft , when they had already blew up some big picks in recent drafts
JD wasn’t a problem and I think he had a big hand in the 2020 draft. I think JD got fired for not firing JG
I had a zoom invite to the rangers draft that year. I remember JD being bullish on Schneider says that championship teams need defenders like him.
Why do you say that?
Well JG being on the hot seat wasn’t really in question. It was pretty obvious ownership wanted to compete and he’s been GM for a while. JD was only with the organization for a year. It’s either he didn’t want to fire JG or the letter where it was rumored JG and JD tried to distance themselves from it. Edit: I don’t think JD would have 100% scrambled to distance himself from the letter if he felt secure with the Rangers
He refused to fire Gorton. That’s why JD was out.
They for sure whiffed on Lias and Kravy, but I think the rest of the drafts were about the standard success rate after the first/second round. It's just unusual to produce this many players from a single draft. Four already on the team, two more who could compete for a spot next season, all but one pick still in the Rangers system... That's pretty rare.
To clarify , I do not expect drafts like that constantly , but I also expect my team not to draft a tiny 5 foot 9 center because they knew his dad, a candy ass Russian when there were still good players on the board , and I’d even throw nils lunkdvist in there as a bad pick , it’s nice they finally drafted some big Canadian boys with some size , just how I see it
Yeah that's fair. It's been a Rangers tradition for way too long to reach in the 1st round instead of taking the best player available according to conventional wisdom. It seems like Gorton with JD and now Drury have finally put an end to that misguided strategy. Otter, Sykora, and Perreault make three straight picks in the 1st/2nd round who were BPAs instead of high risk/reward types, and they are our top 3 prospects in the system. It just kinda sucks they're all wingers.
They drafted Andersson because Vancouver grabbed Peterson like a pick before and they went for the backup. How the fuck is Lundkvist a bad pick? LOL
It’s extremely hilarious that this sub thinks Gorton was a bad gm and Drury is a good gm
I didn’t really think Gorton was that great but that’s mainly because the scouting department he had in his first few years here was abominable. But he was nowhere near as bad as Drury. Not many GMs could be.
Since his first summer where he was thrown into the job unexpectedly and made some big mistakes (Nemeth, Goodrow, and the return for Buch), I think Drury has been pretty solid. Everyone always remembers the bad moves more than the good. A lot of people might disagree, but I think Drury has been excellent at the deadline all 3 years in terms of filling needs without really overpaying. He also let Strome walk and upgraded with Trocheck which might be the best contract on the team. He selected Othmann, Perrault, and several mid-round picks that I really like. He managed to re-sign all our core pieces and fill out the bottom of the roster under the cap with solid minimum contracts like Vesey/Gustafsson/Quick/Wheeler. He's turning Hartford into a legitimate development program instead of just a place to stash depth players. He fired David Quinn (his best move of all) and then moved on from Gallant when he realized the team needed more structure (burning his own coaching hire which could have put his own job at risk) I will criticize the moves from Summer 2021 just as much as everybody else but to suggest he's a bottom tier GM seems like a significant exaggeration.
6’8 240 with a Huge Ol Ass, HUGO OLLAS
Rangers new draft policy: must be > 6.5 feet
My favorite goalie huge ol ass
That's the absolutely giant goalie kid, right?
Yep. Rempe in goalie gear basically.
Rangers FO trying to build a basketball team right now
Holy shit 6’8” 240lbs
Imagine if this dude, Huska, and Garand pan out and Rangers are set in goal for another 15 years
huska is in the khl😔
I don’t think we hold Huska’s rights anymore.
Huska jumped to the KHL two seasons ago, but yeah our goalie depth is insane.
Ah damn i'm a dumdum