New York Rangers: The Good and Bad of the Traverse City Tournament
With the 2016 Traverse City Tournament coming to an end last night, the Baby New York Rangers squad has answered some questions but also presented us with a few new ones, too.
It was a crazy 5 days for the New York Rangers Traverse City team. 4 games in 5 nights is always a struggle. It’s especially a struggle when you only started skating with your teammates a few weeks ago.
But yet, there was some instant chemistry on this team that made it so productive offensively.
It all starts and ends with former Nashville Predators draft pick turned college free agent Jimmy Vesey. The Harvard grad was all over the ice in this 4 game tournament. Vesey notched a total of 5 goals and 2 assists in the 4 games, including 2 straight 2 goal games to close out the tournament.
Those 5 goals and 7 points that Vesey has scored sound phenomenal by themselves, but when you take these two tidbits in, you will see how much more phenomenal they really are.
#NYR Jimmy Vesey led all skaters in goals (five), SOG (20), and tied for first among skaters with 7 points at The Traverse City Tournament.
— Sean Hartnett (@HartnettHockey) September 21, 2016
#NYR winger Jimmy Vesey’s seven points were tied for the most any Ranger has posted in one year at the Traverse City Tournament. #NYRTCT
— Sean Hartnett (@HartnettHockey) September 21, 2016
Vesey played a majority of the tournament on the left wing of Cristoval “Boo” Nieves and Pavel Buchnevich. The Russian-born Buchnevich played very well in the tournament although he didn’t find the goal sheet. It is going to take some time to adjust to the North American game for the skinny Russian, but there were some good things to take away from his play.
Buchnevich’s instincts were very sound, way beyond his years. Playing in the KHL with real men in what is probably the second best hockey league in the world has helped Buchnevich develop those. At times it seemed that Buchnevich was so far ahead of the game as far as instincts go, and that hurt this young team who hasn’t really developed them yet. It does bode well for him adjusting to a New York Rangers regular season roster spot, though.
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Two other forwards that really played well in the tournament together were the Sweedish pair of Robin Kovacs and Malte Stromwall. The two played together for AHK in the SHL last season, so the chemistry was there. Throw in Tim Gettinger at center, and the Rangers had another solid scoring line.
Both Kovacs and Stromwall had 2 goals apiece in the tournament, their first affairs overseas. Kovacs was one of the team’s most electric forwards and brought a lot of energy to the table during the tournament. It will be tough for him to make the team, but boy, I am really excited about this kid’s future with the big club.
One more forward that really got my attention was Ty Ronning. The 7th round pick of the New York Rangers in 2016 didn’t have a single point in the tournament, but he played his 4th line role to a tee.
He was an aggressive agitator in front of the net and did a really good job fighting for position in front to screen the goalie, which led to a few Rangers goals. Ronning isn’t the biggest guy out there–he is only 5’9″ and weighs about 175lbs–but he plays much bigger than his size. That is the type of player I would like to see in the Rangers bottom six, and in a few years from now, Ronning might work his way up to that role.
Now, the defense on the other hand…
Coming into this tournament, the New York Rangers didn’t really have many Grade A prospects on the blueline. The only real noteworthy defensive prospects on the team were Sean Day and Calle Anderson. Other than that, it was a bunch of low round picks and invites.
With guys like Dylan McIlrath, Brady Skjei and Ryan Graves graduated from the rookie camp eligibility, this new, weaker crop of defenseman had to come out and show what they had.
Well…
Sean Day had a pretty solid overall tournament. He had 2 goals and an assist, and you could see his puck moving potential just oozing out of his stick. He has such quick foot speed that he could be a mainstay on the Rangers blue line in a few years. He, along with the rest of the defense needs to do some work on the, you know, defensive part of the game.
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And that’s not to say it was all bad or it was all their fault that they gave up so many goals throughout the tournament, but they sure didn’t help themseleves.
Brandon Halverson, the 2014 second round pick of the Rangers was left out to dry a lot over the course of his 3 games in net with the Baby Rangers. He gave up 13 goals on 100 shots for a .870 save percentage. Granted, in his first two games he was forced to make 34+ saves a game, he really shot his numbers in the foot on Tuesday night by giving up 5 goals on 18 shots.
What does this mean for Halverson going forward? Well, who knows. He is still a young guy–only 20 years old–and goaltenders usually take some more time to develop than other players. Of course, this past week didn’t look good for Halverson and it might have scared some in the organization, but the kid deserves more time to figure it out before the team writes him off.
Joseph Raaymakers, a camp invite from the Soo Greyhounds made 31 saves on 32 shots in his only start, a 2-1 victory over the Wild. At the moment, he doesn’t appear to be in the team’s future plans considering the amount of goaltending depth in the system, but he is definitely a guy the team will keep an eye on.
For the Rangers, though, they should take away the positives from this tournament, because there were a lot of them. Yes, some things with this group need to be fixed for the future just like some things need to be fixed for the big club, but you have to hope management realizes this and that the team is in good hands.
Overall solid tournament for the Baby Rangers, and it should be interesting seeing how these players move forward and perform this year.
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