Update: Bob McKenzie: Tough sledding for NYR/RFA Derek Stepan. Player seeks McDonagh $ (6 x $4.7M) but no arb rights, NYR holding firm on Subban level bridge deal. Wonder if Stepan hold out like Subban did before signing the deal. Rangers could agree to ST deal and then sign LT during the season to save cap room, but player and team both have to be willing to do that and wonder which is less inclined to do so.

The Rangers begin play in the Traverse City Tournament on September 5. For those jonesing for hockey and looking for an early view of some of the team's prospects, this is a perfect chance to fill both needs. While it will not be shown on MSG, the tournament will be streamed live online.

The list of players for the Rangers is below with who I want to see in italics:

Forwards: Anthony Duclair, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Danny Kristo, Michael St. Croix, Thomas Spelling, Kyle Jean, JT Barnett, Josh Graves, Michael Kantor, Paxton Leroux, Josh Nicholls, Klarc Wilson, Andrew Yogan.

(looking forward to seeing Kristo, as a strong tourney could help lead him into training camp with a shot to make the Opening Day roster, especially if Callahan and Hagelin are sidelined to start the season. Fast and Lindberg fall into the same boat as Kristo and I am interested to see how they handle playing on the smaller ice surface. St. Croix had a big year last year, so this will be a shot to show how he has grown skill-wise etc. Nicholls was a FA signing while it's the first chance to see Duclair, who the team selected in the third round this season)

Defense: Conor Allen, Charlie Dodero, Troy Donnay, Ben Fanelli, Ryan Graves, Tommy Hughes, Samuel Noreau, Jimmy Oligny

(Allen was rated by Hockey Prospectus below as a sleeper prospect, so would like to see him have a big tourney. Donnay is big, so he should very noticeable on the ice. Hughes and Noreau seen below in 11-15).

Goalies: Jeff Malcolm and MacKenzie Skapski

The tournament runs from 9/5 to 9/9:

9/5: 3:30PM against Carolina
9/6: 4PM against Buffalo
9/8: 6:30PM against Columbus
9/9 Championship/Consolation Games

Hockey Prospectus have been running their top-10 prospects for teams the past several weeks and today, they listed the New York Rangers Top 10 Prospects. They rank the Rangers 19th overall in the league and say that their depth overall is why players such as Kyle Jean, Samuel Noreau, and Tommy Hughes (all of whom are playing in the Traverse City tournament) did not make the top 15. In addition, their summary is very interesting. They state: "The Rangers have a very interesting system, because there is a lot of upside in this pipeline. Almost all of their top 15-16 prospects have one or two great standout qualities, but a fair number of them also lack in key areas. It is quite possible that this system could churn out several quality NHLers, but on the other hand, a lot of New York's upper echelon may bust out." We all hope the latter occurs, but even if not, the pipeline should provide several players that can either help the parent club of be used in other deals.

New York Rangers Top 10 Prospects

1. Chris Kreider, Left Wing
2. Danny Kristo, Right Wing
3. Pavel Buchnevich, Left Wing
4. Michael St. Croix, Center
5. Brady Skjei, Defense
6. Oscar Lindberg, Center
7. Anthony Duclair, Left Wing
8. Jesper Fast, Right Wing
9. Cristoval Nieves, Left Wing
10. Dylan McIlrath, Defense

The next five:
11. Marek Hrivik, Left Wing
12. Steven Fogarty, Center
13. Calle Andersson, Defense
14. Josh Nicholls, Right Wing
15. Adam Tambellini, Center

In terms of organization Top-15 Under 22, J.T. Miller becomes #1 on the list with Kreider sliding to second while John Moore slides in at four.

My takeaways: Kreider is still considered the team's top prospect but we are getting close to do or die time for consistent production. The Kristo deal was a steal as no way Thomas would be second or likely even top-10. I loved the Buchnevich pick when it was made and this further evidence of that. Lots of players above are rated as having top-six or second defensive pairing potential, albeit with a healthy amount of risk. With McIlrath, their projection of "he could be a fringe second pairing/good third pairing defenseman" is a bit concerning especially given our hopes for him and need for him to be the crease clearing d-man the team needs. If that is on the third line, that's likely fine, but hopefully he becomes a fourth d-man at a minimum. Also, nice to see all third-round picks from this year's draft on the Top-15, which either means Gord Clark did a good job of drafting, the team lacked other prospects or both, though given how well Clark has done in the past, I lean towards the former.

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