Tom Petty had it right: "The Waiting is the Hardest Part." The Rangers, like the other six teams Tuesday and Wednesday and Sabres prior to that, have made their pitches to Jimmy Vesey. Now, Vesey and agents are sitting and deciding where he will sign his first professional contact.
As of now, none of those eight teams have been ruled out. The Rangers, Devils, Islanders, Bruins, Blackhawks, Penguins, Leafs and Sabres are all still in the mix. Speculation was that Vesey was to start narrowing down his list Thursday at 4pm with a decision likely coming sometime this weekend.
Depending on who you follow and what you believe drives who might be in the lead. Per the Boston Herald, Boston, Vesey's hometown team, reportedly "did well" in their 2.5 hour meeting Thursday. But the Devils reportedly impressed him. The Isles brought in John Tavares to meet with Vesey, Buffalo has John Eichel, Toronto has the familial connection, the Rangers, who brought in Alain Vigneault and GM Jeff Gorton to the meeting with Vesey, have Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider, Chicago had Patrick Kane meet with Vesey while Sidney Crosby of the Pens reportedly reached out to Vesey as part of the process.
Jared Clinton of the Hockey News had a solid breakdown of each team's Pros and Cons:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/vesey-met-with-seven-teams-discussing-options-thursday-what-can-each-team-offer/
Joe McDonald of ESPN has been on top of the Vesey story since the beginning. In his column, he has some quotes from one of Vesey's agent, reaffirming that all the teams as of Thursday were still in the mix and how the process could work. Of course, publicly, the agents won't rule anyone out but that doesn't mean behind the scenes that certain teams remain in true contention.
http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/17340316/jimmy-vesey-agents-discuss-options-meeting-seven-nhl-teams
"Impressive meetings with a lot of different perspectives has certainly given the camp a lot to think about," said Peter Donatelli, one of Vesey's agents.Despite reports, no team has been told it is out of the running, according to Donatelli.
"No, that's not true at all," Donatelli said. "None of the teams we met with have been told that. Everyone is still in the mix. We're going to try and drill down right now to a few [teams] and then either call some teams with some questions or not. We'll probably reach out to a few teams with some questions that we think were either unanswered or we want clarification on, but that's the intent today."
So now we wait. Maybe Vesey's agents reach out to get a few questions answered by New York, but their pitch, like the others, are over. Now we have to see how the process plays out. Personally, I want a British woman to call each team ruled out and say, "You are the weakest link, goodbye." Then have the rose ceremony with the final remaining suitor receiving the flower to show that organization is the winner.
Regardless of what happens with Vesey, the Rangers dipped their toe in the college free agent market, signing Providence College defenseman John Gilmour. The young blueliner helped lead the Friars to national title in 2015 and was a 7th round pick of the Flames in 2013.
Gilmour is 6-0, 180 pounds. He needs to get a bit stronger, but did improve defensively in college and is an offensive type blueline. Gilmour projects as a possible second or third line d-man with offensive upside.
Gilmour, 23, posted nine goals and 14 assists in 34 games last season at Providence and ranked fifth among all NCAA defensemen with 12 power play assists and tied for eighth in the NCAA in goals and power play goals among blueliners.