When you make a decision most times it isn’t easy. The fan sentiment was selfish, “Keep Duclair in New York he can learn more in the press box…. No, he can’t. He wasn’t playing enough minutes and he didn’t play in enough games. As a result his development was stalled and now the Rangers have made the correct decision by letting him ride the wave of his 2015 WJC Gold with a chance to win the Memorial Cup, since his team is the host and gets an automatic berth into the tourney. He played great. Let him build on it.
I won’t give you advanced stats or the potentially obvious statement about how he’s better than some current Rangers on the roster. The fact of the matter is if Alain Vigneault felt that he would have retained him. This coach has total control over his lineup and he made the right decision for the youngster based on the fact that he knew he would play him every few games for less than 15 minutes per on average.
Duclair is a top-six guy. To have him on the bottom six at any time isn’t ideal. Now he’ll play on the top line. Top power play. PK, every situation. That’s the kind of player he is and will be in the future.
At the end of May, if the Rangers are still in the playoff hunt they can get Duclair back! Maybe before the 31st depending on how his team performs. It’s an insurance policy. If the Ranger get eliminated it won’t be because Duclair was sent back, trust me.
Next year Duclair will have a chance to make the top nine for sure and maybe the top 6 depending how things shake out. Now the Rangers can concentrate on the rest of the season and what to do about Marc Staal, who doesn’t want to be in the middle of a Ryan Callahan type situation.
That decision won’t come for a while based on how things have gone so far. I think there’s a 20 percent chance they retain him, 30% chance they trade his rights at the draft and 50% chance they trade him.
After the All-Star break I would expect Staal’s agent to come out and update the press on the situation or he’ll ask Marc to do it. It’s what happens most times and that’s when things will happen one way or the other. Either a signed deal, an attempt to trade him, or just retain him based on the offers and just get a draft pick for his rights in Sunrise, Florida in June.
I’ll give a detailed scouting report on the Ranger prospects soon. But today I wanted to cover these two topics, again.
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