New York Rangers: Top 3 Defensemen Who Could Receive a Call Up
The New York Rangers have a lot of struggling veteran defenders. If the team wants to rebuild its defense on the fly–which they should–then bringing in some young blood from the farm would help.
The New York Rangers’ defense is a mess. Of course, you already knew that. Rebuilding a defense with the contractual investments that the team has made on a particular set of players is no easy task. If the Rangers want a cheap way to induce new, young blood into the top six, then they might want to call one of their young defensemen up from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack.
Ryan Graves
Graves, the Rangers fourth round pick back in the 2013 NHL draft has had a very impressive start to his AHL career over the past season and a half. In 74 games last season, Graves notched 9 goals and 21 points to go along with 53 penalty minutes and a plus 6 rating. Graves made the AHL All-Star team with those efforts.
The Yarmouth, Nova Scotia native is on pace to break his career highs in almost every major statistical category this year. Through 39 games, Graves has tallied 5 goals, 19 points and 34 penalty minutes.
According to “Hockey’s Future,” Graves is “Mostly a defensive blueliner, Graves is big, uses his body well and has good positioning.” Graves has contributed more offense in the pros so far than expected and the Rangers hope this trend continues.
At 6-4, 220 lbs, he uses his size to his advantage and is a physical type of player. Hockey’s Future says that he projects to be a second pairing defenseman who may be developing ahead of schedule. Graves would fit just about every need the Rangers have on defense.
John Gilmour
John Gilmour’s first professional season is a bit of a mixed bag. On the bright side, Gilmour is the owner of 4 goals and 8 assists through his first 39 AHL games. He sees routine minutes on the power play and has shown flashes of fantastic offensive potential with a very good shot and great speed.
Then there is the other side of the argument. Gilmour, who stands in at 5′ 11″ and weighs in at 180 lbs soaking wet is not the greatest size for a defenseman and sometimes he can get overpowered because of it. Defense has been a bit of an issue for the former Providence College defender.
He has a -21 rating this year, which is hardly impressive. If he wants to see time at the NHL level, he needs to work on that area of his game, but the offensive potential that the 23-year-old possess is enough to make him a viable option for a call-up.
Matt Bodie
The captain of the Hartford Wolfpack is having a very impressive season from an offensive standpoint. After scoring 7 goals last season, a career high for him, Bodie already has six scores in 32 games. His assist total is slightly down, but he still has half a season to improve those numbers.
Just like Gilmour, Bodie has a horrible plus/minus rating. Slightly better than Gilmour’s, Bodie has a -19 rating. Hockey’s Future has this to say about Bodie; “A rather lean offensive defenseman with good hockey sense, Bodie continues to progress in developing defensive instincts.” They are right, Bodie is very lean. He weighs only 165 pounds, which is very light for a defenseman at the AHL level, let alone the NHL level.
Bodie is 26-years-old. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Unless the Rangers decide to give him a call-up and see if he can do anything at the NHL level, expect them to either move him in an AHL swap with another team or leave him in the unrestricted free agency pool in the summer.
The Verdict
It is clear as day that Ryan Graves is the best defenseman out of the bunch. He is also the youngest. All signs are pointing towards him having an NHL career sooner rather than later, since he seems to be ahead of schedule, development wise.
If the Rangers decide to call-up Gilmour or Bodie, it would probably be a bit surprising. Gilmour definitely has lots of offensive potential and looked good with the team in the preseason. If the Rangers want to go the offensive route if they do indeed call up a defenseman, Gilmour might be the most intriguing option.
As for Matt Bodie, the chances of him getting called up to the big club seem to be very slim for the former college free agent. The failure to develop into his frame, along with his age, contract and defensive abilities will most likely limit his chances of getting a call-up.
At the end of the day, though, the Rangers’ defense can’t get much worse. If a call-up of one of these few players does anything, it will at least make it an interesting roster battle.
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